Other Paths: The Devil's Bargin
by Alex Warlorn
Summary: Made for any and all Sonic fans to read and enjoy! When the unthinkable happens on what's supposed to be their last mission, Sonic and Tails find themselves making a choice that may alter their lives forever and all they love... WHOLE AND WRITTEN OUT!
1. Prelude to both victory and defeat

The editor of this chapter is Shadow Sonic, who came up with his screenname years before the 'Dark Sonic' preview pictures for SA2 came around, making HIM the original. Also, he wrote the one paragraph idea for which this entire story was born from, so it's to him that you owe your thanks for this story existing.

Note to readers: this is a relatively independent storyline to Archie and SatAM. What follows are things in this story line that differ from the comic and TV series from when it was originally written:

-The Dark Legion (here simply called The Legion) while defeated by the second guardian were not thrown into the twilight zone and now occupy different parts of Angel Island than the people of Echidnaopolis.

-The king was not sent to The Void but spent years hiding in exile from Robotnik's assassins until the Eggman began to focus on the rebel groups pecking at his empire.

-Sonic saw all of his family roboticized in front of him.

-Knuckles still doesn't know about his father.

-Elias and his mother didn't disappear in flight from Robotropolis during the Great War and weren't wards of the Guardians.

-The ages in this story are –slightly- tweaked from those in the comics and games.

-Robotnik never transferred himself into an android body.

-Lupe in this time line was not roboticized.

-Sonic didn't meet Tails until right during the coup.

- There is no functional de-robotocizer at this time.

-Also due to an error on my part, some of the much distant members of Knuckles guardian family tree have been shuffled around, but this has no bearing on the story itself.

- Finally, GIVE THIS STORY A CHANCE. You won't know you like or hate it until you read it.

Planet Mobius is an ecologically stable world; the third of a five-planet system circling a type H star slightly hotter than Earth's sun. Mobius is home to rare and unseen marvels. One of them is that although the planet's technology is extremely advanced, the world has never developed space travel beyond orbiting platforms. Of all planets, Mobius is home to more diverse humanoid species than any other in the galaxy, most of which refer to themselves generically as Mobians and resemble humanoid Earth animals. The two exceptions are the Echidnas and a human parallel species, though the first assumption for this exception was isolation; in fact it was due to arrogance in both parties seeing the other species of Mobius as inferior.

In recent times, Mobius was engulfed in a planet wide civil war due to one dictator who managed to gain control of the totally robotic military of the planet's strongest nation. The way of this war has shifted back and forth, and seems to have ended falsely several times since its beginning.

A very unique technology native to Mobius is the roboticization process, the ability to turn living tissue into its technological twin. A lack of free will is actually a glitch rather than an intention: thus this technology, and desperate attempts to find a way to reverse it, has been the cornerstone in the war.

The Chaos Emeralds are another mystery of Mobius. These multi-colored crystals contain huge amounts of power, but are little more than gemstones without a conscious mind or power-tapping device to control them. Heavy exposure to emerald radiation has proved to induce incredible but temporary energy-based transformations.

Echidnas have used the Chaos Emeralds for centuries, both as a power source and as a means of levitation. Their entire civilization has come to rest on a single small continent fittingly referred to as Angel Island, or 'the Floating Island.'

Finally and perhaps most intriguing is the fact that Mobius is an

interdimensional hot spot. The fabric between realities on Mobius is less than paper-thin and as a result more than one Mobian has met their alternate counterparts. This is by far the reason Mobius should continue to be under constant study as dimensional rifts seem to open on a monthly basis, though most, some speculate, rarely by accident.

--Excerpt from survey of planet Mobius, 3345, January 18.

…

Anti-Mobius: First dimensional rift encountered. White is black, black is white is the best way to describe this world tormented by a terrorist group lead by an alternate Sally Acorn.

Side-Mobius: Second reality rift encountered: Similar yet different, as different as dawn is from dusk, most notable is the existence of Prince Sonic.

Side notes: Because of their thick hides or fur coats, Mobian clothing is either decorative or functional. Only females have ever on occasion been known to wear clothes in the name of modesty.

Kitsune: A fox with more than one tail, ranging from either two to nine or even twelve. While some say that Kitsune grow more tails as they age, this has yet to be proven or documented.

Ancient Walkers: A trio of super natural entities worshiped by a tribe of nomad Echidnas, ones that live on the Mobian surface. They appear as three floating, decorative masks that are different for each person who sees them. Island Echidnas scoff at these entities. The only non-Echidna ever to have a 'vision' of these walkers has been Miles 'Tails' Prower, while under the brief care of Athair, son of Janelle-Li.

Guardian: The one true Soldier of the Echidnas; their police force limited to exactly that. The position is transferred from father to son or closest living relative. The Guardian is raised from early childhood to manhood either in isolation or under extreme training and supervision to posses a perfect body and extreme mental discipline. The first Guardian was ironically the uncle of the leader of the cyborg cult known as the Legion -Dark

Legion to non-members- that formed after Echidnas began forbidding technological progress. Some members of their society quickly turned bitter over this resulting the birth of the violent cult.

…

PROLOGUE: A USELESS WARNING

How old was he? The sage had lost track; certainly there were many older than he upon Mobius. But age had simply lost its meaning to him long ago.

'I am Athair: sage to the Ancient Walkers. That is enough' and it was, for now.

Athair considered this and other intriguing trivialities as he meditated in the roughly-cut stone chamber, empty save for three stone figures cloaked in shadow, his thoughts drifted as without direction as a butterfly in a storm. His race had always agreed 'the ends justify the means', but there were many Echidnas who would sympathize with the Legion, a group of technological fanatics so hell-bent on restoring the advanced status of their race that they even 'upgraded' body parts with visible cybernetics: if only the actions it used were not so bloody; that, and that power hungry despot who sat at its head.

His society said they had given up their endeavors to increase their level of technology after a nuclear strike and the reckless experiments of a scientist on the Emeralds (whose son had formed the Legion following his father's 'death') had almost ended their civilization. But still, like spoiled children they kept their playthings in a toy box called the Grand Conservatory. "Preserved for future generations."

Hypocrisy seemed to have become intertwined in Echidna culture. Not that he was one to judge, for he had played the self-serving hypocrite many times. He had abandoned the position of Guardian to follow the will of the Ancient Walkers, to protect a group of nomads instead of the island, forcing his ailing mother to reassume the mantle.

Now here he was, lifetimes later, keeping an eye on his great grandson, making sure Knuckles didn't deviate from the path Athair had felt so self-righteous in leaving. Athair would have gone on like this for hours, if he had not sensed IT. The words to strike his mind when he detected IT were foreign, alien and dangerous.

Reversing his major senses from inward to outward, Athair opened his mind, seeking the force his consciousness had caught a glimpse of. Its power was immense but still held back like a dammed river. It was as dark as a collection of shattered dreams, but it was also disturbingly familiar . . . .

In his mind's eye, the sage reached out to touch the invisible mass, to speak to it, to understand it. Athair came out of his meditation as if from a cobra's strike. He had felt a condescending hatred, an unquenchable lust for power and it had threatened to poison him with its mindset. Athair had also seen thoughts and images, intentions and plans; it was like looking at one's own reflection in a shattered mirror. Except this mirror's image had sneered at him, mocked him, and threatened him.

The sage recognized this thing for what it was now and he damned himself. He knew he could not block or confront this thing. Not for lack of strength, which made it worse, but for laws that dictated he could not interfere as it was not yet his concern. And by the time it was, he doubted his aid would be totally sufficient for what was to come. He could do nothing. NOTHING!

To no one, to everyone, to his dead mother, to his great grandson Knuckles, the sage cried out.

"Forgive me . . ."

…

Chapter One

…

The Great Forest, the name sounded over simplistic and primitive when in reality it was merely a bad translation between Mobian and Terran-English. That is not to say the name was not undeserving for it was the densest woodlands on Mobius: a fact that had allowed Knothole Base to exist less than a hundred miles from the renamed capital Robotropolis.

It was this same thick foliage that protected Knothole from detection that now changed the predawn light into a kaleidoscope of red and yellow patterns, blanketing its structures in the silent morning. Anyone who just happened to walk into Knothole would think at first they had stumbled on a lost tribe, with the rows of huts around a number of central ones appearing to be made from only natural materials. But this would be an incorrect statement; the floors were made from carefully hammered wood planks, the walls and ceiling were held by support beams, not mud and straw. The smell was also not one would expect from a group of tribesmen for an ingenious sanitary system had thankfully been installed with Knothole's construction. The insides were as well furbished as one could expect and were divided into a bathroom, bedroom/living room, and a kitchen. With all that said, the huts themselves were designed for camouflage and not defense.

As the light entered one hut in particular, it came across an unusual sight of finding the user sitting on the bed instead of in it. The hut's occupant was infamous for sleeping in, but this morning he had found he was unable to sleep. The time for the mission drew near.

The warm light reflected off his cobalt blue fur as the sun continued to rise but he didn't notice. His eyes once upon a time had been brown, but a chance encounter with the power of the Emeralds had forever left them marked with same ominous green as the Master Emerald that rested at the heart of Angel Island. His long sharp quills that ran along the rear of his head and back created a crisscross shadow pattern on the wooden floor.

He didn't appear muscular but woe to any fools that thought he was a weakling in a fight.

Sonikku Takeshi Hedgehog, known to most as Sonic, had been thinking long before dawn had arrived. A few in Knothole namely King Maximilian Acorn and his unofficial errand boy the skunk Geoffrey St. John would have given a snide remark on the statement. They would have said the only thing Sonic ever thought of was ways to "show off his speed, skill and prowess to lesser mortals". Sonic would've let it slide. However, to most people he was a hero and to others something more.

'It might finally end today,' he thought. After over a decade, it might finally end. Sonic's mind went back to the briefing the night before.

…

_Sonic sat down with the rest of Sally Acorn's immediate group and Geoffrey's commandos. Sally hadn't told Sonic anything of what this upcoming mission was. From the worried looks of those seated next to him, he was not alone._

"_I'll save the pleasantries for another day. To get straight to the point we've developed a plan that could end the war." She ignored the shocked muttering that broke out. "With our hit and run missions we've found a gap in the defenses in the airport at Robotropolis' bay. We can use the Special to get a group inside the main defenses, break into Robotnik's command center, kill him, and leave before his robots carry out whatever death switch instructions he's given them."_

"_I went over this with you earlier today Princess," said Geoffrey, "And I still don't see why he would leave a hole like that in his defenses. It doesn't make sense, and have you forgotten how many troops he always keeps in the central city?" He was going to add potential traps to his list of objections when Sally broke in._

_"Robotnik might be brilliant but he's also sloppy and arrogant. Once he's finished a project, you know he NEVER bothers to check for flaws. Apparently he thinks anything he designs is perfect on the first try. Since he repelled all of our attacks recently with his new defenses, he's dispatched most of his personal troops to fight in other regions."_

"_In other words, I only get to dismantle a few robots this trip instead of the usual five dozen," Sonic joked._

_He wasn't trying to trivialize the situation; he just felt too much tension was bad for anything, especially this. Geoffrey didn't interpret it so._

_"With you and your lapdog along, I'd be bloody surprised if any of us came back from this thing alive."_

_Tails' head shot up at this, but Sonic beat him to the punch._

"_Tails is NOT a lapdog!" Sonic rose up._

"_Sonic, St. John, calm down! I don't want this meeting to turn into a damn circus!" Sally snapped. She took in a deep breath, and continued._

_"St. John is right, for the wrong reasons. Even with such a small number of his forces at home this mission will be incredibly dangerous. This isn't a storage house we're raiding, or a robot factory were placing bombs in, this is Robotnik's own fortress you'll be walking into. You know where the door is. If any of you want to use it, I'll be looking the other way."_

_No one left the room._

_"You know me Sal, I don't back down from a challenge," Sonic replied, breaking the silence._

_The ground squirrel smiled and nodded. There wasn't a single soul in the room that wasn't scared, but they hadn't gotten as far as they had by hiding in corners. Without another word on the subject Sally began to go over blueprints of Robotnik's headquarters._

_Sonic had immediately volunteered to take point. No one wondered where Sonic got his incentive to fight Robotnik's forces. Like most of Sally's Freedom Fighters Sonic's family had fallen prey to roboticization within days of the war's beginning. The only difference was that Sonic had seen it happen right in front of his eyes when he was just a kid. Seeing them pound futility against the chamber's plastic door, hearing them scream in agony as their flesh turned into metal and Watching as their expressions became blank as their free will and emotions died._

_It was the only solid memory Sonic had from that time besides his friendship with Sally. The feeling Sonic felt that day could easily have turned into obsession, but thankfully because of Sally and others it had instead become determination. Determination to make sure it never happened to anyone again. EVER._

…

Sonic's mind returned to the present. He went through his morning routine in a blue blur. He tightened the straps on his red cleats, pulled on his white wrist-length gloves and went out the door. He really didn't need to get Tails as the Kitsune was capable of finding the air pad on his own. It was only out of a habit Sonic had developed with him that he did what he did. Sonic and Sally had been brother, sister, mother and everything in between to the young fox, which was why probably Tails had developed his nickname 'Aunt Sally' for the princess. Running at a casual pace, Sonic made his way to Tails' hut.

…

Miles 'Tails' Prower awoke as the sunlight found its way underneath his eyelids and made contact with his pure blue eyes. The white fur covering the tips of his tails, chest and muzzle were the only changes in his otherwise spotless orange fur.

Turning his head, he carefully eyed another mass hidden by blankets in a bed opposite his. Getting up as stealthily as he could, he slipped into the bathroom and closed the door without a sound. With the speed and caution of a cat burglar he went through the task of his daily hygiene and the putting on of his gloves and sneakers.

Opening the door, he looked again to make sure the occupant of the second bed hadn't stirred. Satisfied, he took three steps toward the door and knew then all attempts to leave without having to tell her good-bye had been in vain.

"Tails please . . . don't go." She said in a slow tired voice as she pulled the sheets away from her very awake and frowning face. Tails' face had an undeniable cute factor about it in the flow and length of his face fur which made it impossible for most to get into a test of wills with him. That defense crumbled like dust against this opponent.

"Amy, I don't want to go through this right now."

"But I do Tails."

"You've never tried to stop me before."

This seemed to snap something in Amy. She flung the blankets off the bed and came to face to face with the Kitsune forgetting her modesty.

"It was never suicide before!" she growled. "I'm no older than you and I don't have to go on this death trip!"

"Age has nothing to do with it. I'm one of the best fighters that we have and they're going to need me. I just can't abandon everyone."

Amy turned her head from her friend.

"Tails I'm, I'm sorry, it's just if everything you told me is true, and if this mission succeeds and this war ends…I just don't want to lose you when it's almost over."

"Don't worry Amy! Sonic will be right there with me. Nothing is going to happen."

"That's what makes this worse. I don't want everyone close to me to vanish again."

"Again? When did everyon-"

Tails stopped in mid sentence. He knew EXACTLY what Amy was talking about and he cursed his own slow wit for making her remember more: When everyone close to her had vanished, when everyone close to her had died.

"Amy I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dig that up." Tails apologized. "Then don't go."

"You know I can't do that."

Amy turned herself around completely and put her face in her folded arms, her young body a painting in the morning light.

"Please come back alive. Please . . . just come back alive." Amy said, not wanting to see him go, or for him to see her cry.

"I promise I will."

Not turning his back to her, Tails opened the door and stepped out.

******************************************************************

Amy's settlement was one of the few initially looked over by Robotnik's campaign, but it didn't stay that way for long. Little Amy had woken up hearing the sounds of screams and breaking glass.

Reacting on instinct alone she rushed out of her window and thankfully her small size had made her a minor target. Her mind did not try to take in what was happening around her. All she knew was that she had to hide.

She somehow made her way to a hollow tree she always played by. She scurried inside and curled into a ball, her arms and legs locked around her tiny body. At this point her mind simply switched off. She never knew how lucky she was her hiding place was not blown away by stray fire.

Robotnik had no need for extra workers at the time, so his forces didn't bother with capturing anyone. Amy didn't know any of this when her mind clicked back on. All she knew was that it was completely silent. It was the silence of the dead.

Sonic had been on a long-range scouting mission when he found the ruins. Though he knew looking for survivors was futile, he felt it was his responsibility to the fallen.

As he dug the new graveyard, he heard a high-pitched whimper. He followed the sounds to their source; an old oak tree. Inside there was a small pink quivering cub.

After some effort he managed to wrench the young hedgehog out of her hiding place. Between sobs he found out the girl's name was Amy Thorn Rose and after telling her that his name was Sonic, her eyes lit up and her tears dried in less than a second.

She latched onto Sonic with a yelp of joy, almost cutting off his oxygen, saying there was no way anything could hurt her since Sonic the Hedgehog was there.

'THE Sonic,' she thought. The hero, the blue blur, the fastest thing alive, and all the other nicknames the people had for him. Amy knew them all. While her friends had played with dolls and then later began to slowly turn their heads toward boys, she had spent every minute of her free time learning everything she could about Sonic. She never could remember what made her interested in him as her hobby; not that it mattered much to her.

Actually, there was one hint. All Mobian hedgehogs were known for having unnatural speed compared to their wild ancestors, but Sonic was one of the few whose speed defied physical limitations. Amy was one of these too, but in the opposite manner. Her speed was normal for most Mobians, but below average for a Hedgehog. No one in her family ever teased her about it, but she felt as if she had been denied something that was her birthright.

But instead of feeling disdain, when she thought about Sonic she felt peace, as if he was a gatekeeper to a dream she longed for.

The nightmare faded for Amy; only Sonic remained. Sonic managed to pry Amy off himself easily but he had no idea how much Amy Rose had latched onto him emotionally. On the long days back to base at Knothole, Sonic made fast friends with her. The little girl, on the other hand, had secretly vowed her undying love to the teenage hedgehog. Sonic was clueless as to why she keep looking at him like she was in a dream every night.

Ironically, there was one factor Amy hadn't known about her hero, and that factor was Sally. Amy made that fact very clear when she saw the two kiss when they arrived in Knothole. Both Sonic and Sally tried to be subtle and soft about whom Sonic loved at first for the sake of Amy's mental health.

But Amy didn't take the hints, or to be more accurate, refused to accept the obvious. Finally, after over six months, a tired and frustrated Sonic said it straight to Amy's face.

"But Sonic . . ." Amy said, as she slowly moved her hand to caress

Sonic.

Sonic slapped Amy so hard it left a mark. She fell to her knees.

"Amy, it's time you learned that the world doesn't revolve around you. Everything and everyone isn't going to just fall in line just because you want them to!"

Amy looked at him through tears. She tried to stand up and reached out a hand to have Sonic help her.

"Sonic, please."

"Sonic is what my FRIENDS call me. It's Sonikku to you." Sonic turned his back to her and blazed out of the hut. "And don't you forget it!"

Sonic regretted his decision instantly. He knew he had hurt Amy. He knew he could have shot her in the leg and it would have scarred her less. Amy was just a little girl with misplaced feelings, and he had struck her, as if she was an ENEMY! Amy had to learn. But Sonic had never meant to us that method of teaching.

For Amy, the world crumbled into dust. Her only support was gone. Her mind almost reverted back to the place Sonic had found her, inert matter, nothingness.

Sally knew any attempt by her or Sonic to help would only make things worse. That was when **he** came into the picture.

Tails had always been the softhearted, sentimental type and he could do nothing but feel sympathy for Amy. Tails proved to be more help than he could have imagined. He was the first person Amy responded to except Sonic since being in Knothole. Whether this had to do with his reputation as Sonic's sidekick,that he was closer to Amy's age than Sonic or his kind nature the fox could never figure out. Time passed and Tails helped pull Amy out of her depression.

The one problem with being close to someone is that you don't want to move that far away from them. Tails felt this too.

He fought it, of course. He even tried to start a relationship with an attractive young silver fox he couldn't remember the name of now, just so he could find a reason not to be with Amy always. But he was, in the end, defeated. Whenever he went on a walk, he would find his way to Amy's place. When he tried his best to avoid her, he ran into her even more.

Finally one day, the orange Kitsune said to the world, "Okay, I give up, you win."

At the next social gathering, he found Amy in a moment, he sat next to her and without a word he kissed her. Amy hugged him so hard that he was afraid that he would suffocate, but then she loosened up seeing Tails' bluish expression.

Most who watched what happened were not surprised as Amy hadn't kept her growing feelings a secret, and Tails' attempts at hiding his had only resulted in them being more than apparent.

That kiss was followed by a few more than most thought was appropriate for a couple of kids.

******************************************************************

Tails hadn't walked ten paces when Sonic blasted in front of him.

"Hey, little bro, you ready to rock and roll?" Sonic asked as he put his arm around the shorter Tails' shoulder.

Tails didn't give Sonic a response.

Sonic frowned, sensing something wrong with his friend. "Anything wrong?"

"Amy. She asked me to come back alive."

"Dontcha worry Tails. As long as I'm around that's EXACTLY what's gonna happen."

…

Back in their hut, Amy listened as the pair took off toward the Special.

'I know what you and Sonic think of me, Tails. I'm still just the damsel in distress, while Sally is the warrior princess. But I'm not a kid anymore. Everyone has accepted that about you, why not me? I would go on this mission with you if I could. Believe me I would.'

Putting on her red headband and dress which were both designed to take punishment, she looked at herself in a full body mirror.

Her quills didn't stand back in a smooth curve like Sonic's, they hung about her head almost like Terran hair. Like Tails, a small tuft of fur protruded from her forehead, adding an air of pseudo sweetness about her.

The dress was far from her old white and green ruffles. Its' bright red color was evident even in the dim morning light. The dress, in spite of having no sleeves, very little back and having the bottom half open ended left quite a bit to the imagination. After a few years of trying go-go boots she had gone back to using her green sneakers.

Her eyes were green like Sonic's. She wished indeed she were there with him now, right there on the battle field.

For a few seconds the sounds of the past stormed into her mind. All thoughts of heroism vanished.

Amy fearfully looked into the mirror. It was not fear of what had entered her mind just then; it was of the person staring back at her.

…

Sally Alicia Acorn had not found it hard to sleep: she hadn't tried.

She went over every mission detail for the hundredth time since she had finished the briefing and when Bunnie had suggested she go to her room Sally had only taken her notes with her.

Finally at three in the morning she had taken a catnap at Bunnie's urging. Now she was up again looking no worse for her insomnia, her lean and trim figure moving with the same ease as if she had gotten a full night's sleep. Blue eyes went from this aspect of the attack to that. Though her brown fur betrayed no signs of having gone a day and a half without being groomed, the beige fur on her chest and lower face showed every sign of lack of care.

"Ya all know dat lack of sleep can lead ta health problems?" Bunnie asked, leaning against the wall, her light brown fur standing out against the wood.

"Stop being a mother hen, Bunnie. I can handle myself, no sweat."

"If you say so, SONIC." Bunny sniggered, her sparkling plant green eyes laced with that humor she had managed to hang onto all her life.

Sally turned and gave her friend a look of mock annoyance, and turned back to her preparation.

She checked her blaster again, as she had countless times before. Some of her group complained about how much trouble it was to keep the hand weapons in working order; Sally was just glad to have them. Weapon taboos having gone to the wind. She could still remember when Sonic's, and later Tails', special abilities had been the only real weapons they had, save for a few handmade explosives. When they had begun to pirate lasers from fallen robots, it had seemed like a gift from heaven, being able to at last shoot back.

No, there had always been one other weapon available to them.

"Bunny. About you not being on this mission, it's just that a lot of people have . . . been thinking that."

"That I'm as much a resource as a possible threat, because I'm halfway over to the other side?"

Bunnie Rabbot. How ironically fitting her name had become, so fitting that on some lonely nights she wanted to take a welder and torch off her metal limbs.

Panic had gripped Bunnie's mind when she had heard the Roboticizer turn on and the matter energy cycle systematically turned her body into metal. Then confusion as the device suddenly shock and died, and finally surprise at seeing a blue hedgehog and a brown squirrel open the plastic door. After her initial shock had worn off she tried to climb out but she stumbled, as her legs seemed suddenly clumsier. Her left arm shot out to brace her, then she screamed.

It was the arm of a robot.

Sally had later said that Bunnie was lucky they came across her when they did. Bunny had been given incredible strength by the process and her endurance in her limbs had been increased. But every time she encountered a new person, it always began with that startled look at her metal parts. 'Bunnie Rabbot', she thought, 'what a sick joke.'

Lucky, she unknowingly caressed her metal limb with her last remaining flesh one.

Yeah…lucky…

"Bunny, are you listening?"

"Sure girl, ya know I always am." Bunny answered with her ever-present smile that had gathered her so many suitors, most of whom she only dated once. After they had gotten a full look at her or had felt her embrace, they simply avoided her the day after. Her figure was indeed attractive and caught many an eye, at least what was left of it. The process had stopped right before the spot between her legs, another thing she could be thankful for. Though it wouldn't matter to most men if all her limbs including her head had suffered the same fate, what THEY paid attention to was below her neck and that spot between her legs, which she covered with utmost care.

"I was just saying that I really wish you were on this mission, but not all those involved are from our group, and you know how newcomers treat you," She said cautiously.

"Sally-gal, I understand. You don't have to be soft about it, I've been living with this for eight years and I can handle it. I stopped letting thick-headed, closed-minded ding-bats like St. John bother me a long time ago."

Sally nodded, and slipped the gun into its holster. Taking her palmtop computer off the table, she slipped it into a thong on her blue rubber boots. Walking toward the door, Sally turned one last time to her friend.

"Don't worry Bunnie I-"

"Heh, just go already! Or ya'll be at the launch pad just in time ta welcome Sugah-Hog home!" Bunnie said, smiling cheek to cheek.

Smiling back, Sally nodded and left toward the transport's launch pad.

…

Though most of Sally's Freedom Fighters and Geoff's Platoon would have given their right molar for Maximilian Acorn's quarters the monarch simply felt they were inadequate for a head of state. This told you all you need to know about him.

His face and body were like that of a delicately crafted statue now succumbing to the ravages of time, losing its perfection day by day. Though the rest of his fur was still the same light brown as it had been in his youth his moustache and head fur had turned grey, his blue eyes staring into nothingness. He never wore his crown, stating that it was getting heavy. His coat was finely designed and well kept but like the rest of him time was showing its wear.

Sitting in the plush chair, Max was deep in thought. He had no doubt in his mind that this battle would be the final bout, and if indeed it was steps had to be taken. His daughter had played soldier long enough, he was sick of his daughter going off like some fool into battle. She had acted like a headstrong brat ever since she took command; she had to remember that an Acorn's place is on the throne not on the battlefield.

There was a knock on the intricately carved door.

"Enter." Maximilian said in his normal commanding and well-groomed voice anticipating the identity of the visitor.

Geoffrey St. John was a normal skunk with black fur, white belly, striped tail, dark eyes, and a young serious face of someone who didn't take to humor. One utility belt came across his chest while another came in tight around his lower half, the same strange violet color as his boots and gloves. Though he carried a pistol he always had a small wrist crossbow on his forearm. He carried it more out of some unknown tradition than anything else.

He had always been loyal to the House of Acorn, just like his father before him during the Terran/Mobian War and his father before him when a certain family of hedgehogs led by Aleena Hedgehog had challenged the Acorn's right to the throne.

And right now Maximilian wanted that loyalty more than anything.

Nearly Sally's entire group seemed to be far more obedient to her than to her father. Geoff's Platoon was a mixed bag, but Geoff himself was loyal beyond question.

"You wanted to see me, your Highness?"

"St. John, who are you loyal to? Your Princess or your King?"

Geoff was completely surprised by this question but responded just the same.

"You sire, and no one else."

"I ask because I know you have feelings for my daughter."

Geoffrey's head picked up at this. Geoff had first encountered Sally when the independent missions of both had crossed over. Sonic had been out of the picture at the time, off on a personal mission. The two had aided each other on a number of missions afterwards. Geoff admired the Princess: her leadership and her abilities to survive. At the same time he could not believe the way she so often disregarded both her family's traditions and her father's orders. Her brother Elias was little better but at least he kept in line and respected the orders of his father. In the end Geoff had become the king's eyes and ears, and often his hands among the forces.

"They are not something that I would let interfere with my decisions, sir."

"Give this to my daughter."

The king gave Geoff an envelope, branded with the marking of a emergency communication from another resistance group, addressed directly to Sally.

Another soldier would question the reason for being asked his loyalty and then being given the task of a mailman. But it was another thing that inspired Geoff to speak; these kinds of messages were given directly to him, his second in command Hershey, Sonikku, or Sally, as each letter was encoded with a personal scrambler system only that particular person knew. There was no point in anyone else being given it for any amount of time beforehand. And Geoff said as much to his leader.

"I asked for your loyalty because I need it. The letter itself is gibberish, using a variation of the Princess' personal code." The king smiled. "The point is she will be trying to decode it for hours and by the time she realizes it is a fake, it will be too late to recall the transport."

"Sir . . . why?"

"Because with all proper respect, Captain St. John, this so-called 'mission' equals death. The Princess' participation in such a situation is unacceptable…I can't lose her like I lost her mother."

"Why not just order her to stay, sir? You are her father."

"Have you ever known that to hold any weight with her?" Replied the king coldly.

"No sir, I have not. On that subject, you can't be sure that she will stay behind even after being given this. You know how dedicated she can be to a mission."

The king's reply was instant and vicious.

"You are authorized to use ANY means necessary to prevent her from leaving Knothole this day. Do you understand?!" Max's eyes narrowed. "Any means whatsoever." His voice was like ice.

"Yes sir," Geoff said completely steady in his voice, not letting any of the emotions he was feeling show through it, or his face.

"You may go." Making the appropriate bow, Geoff St. John left the king to his own thoughts with utmost haste, wanting to get his task over with as soon as possible.

…

Prince Elias Acorn was pacing back and forth in his chamber. While

Sally had, debatably, been granted relative freedom of actions HE had been kept from any real fighting. This frustrated him greatly; it left him feeling like a pampered weakling spending half his time in Knothole and the other half on missions that a green recruit could handle. He had been denied real tasks in this war save the figurehead position he now held. His sister sympathized but the leash their father put on him was far tighter then the one he had placed on his daughter.

If Maximilian had his initial way all three of them would spend this entire war hiding behind a resistance group that would not even EXIST without Sally. Thankfully, that had been one decision that he had made differently than his original intent.

Elias himself was the spitting image of his father, especially with his blue eyes and cerulean royal coat. He was a couple of years older than his sister, with bright red hair matching Sally's that they had both gotten from their mother.

Up until a few years ago, Sally hadn't even known her brother had existed. Though Elias had known about her they had been kept completely separate from the other during their childhood on orders from their father; to "protect" them, whatever the hell that meant.

All Elias knew was that he had been denied watching his little sister grow up. Even after the fall of Mobotropolis their father had hoped she would not learn of Elias for as long as possible.

Elias had this terrible vision of himself several years in the future when he was a gibbering twit with no use in the real world beyond his father's court. The image was not too pleasant, and now with this desperate attempt to end this war in one swift move here he was again, watching from the sidelines His only ability to wait and hope that things turned out for the best. At least Sally was denied the smothering embrace of Maximilian Acorn. Thus far, anyway.

…

Like a bird of prey, The Special was prepared to take off into the air with the intention to kill. Its metal wings spread long and proud into the coming battle and its engines already beginning to produce a whine that would soon become a roar.

…

The Special was the Freedom Fighters' only aircraft, except for a heavily modified biplane tinkered on and off by Tails that he called "The Tornado". No one in their right mind dared pilot that biplane except that fox.

Geoffrey leaned against the opened side hatch to The Special, waiting. Hershey Feline, a black cat with a white underbelly and striking violet eyes waited with him. Her hair stood up on its own accord, creating a crest. Like Sally and unlike Bunny, she wore token clothing at best. Her only covering, save her boots and weapon holster, was a red piece of cloth tied around her neck and Geoffrey often found his head drifting in her direction. He often sensed her stealing glances at him but he ignored them. Emotions with those under your rank could only lead to making simple decisions more complex than they were. His observations of Sally and Sonic had shown him that much.

Hershey had originally been just a soldier for hire until she joined Geoffrey's commandos for lack of better things to do. Geoffrey never understood why she didn't leave for better work afterwards. Other places that paid higher certainly had sprung up since then, but as long as she did her job he didn't care.

"Jeff," She called him as she always did, "Everyone's here except for Prower, Hedgehog, and Her Highness."

At the sound of an approaching sonic boom, the skunk looked around with contempt. A blue streak of light and an orange blur came toward him. And with only a mutual look of disgust at Geoff, Sonic and Tails entered.

"Correction," Hershey said. "Everyone except for her Highness."

"Get back into the cockpit and make final preparations."

"Without her, Jeff?"

"I gave you an order, carry it out."

A little unprepared for his tone, the black cat complied.

Sally didn't waste energy she was going to need on the mission getting to the transport. She had learned to conserve all resources during her time as a guerrilla leader.

Coming to the launch pad and The Special's side door Sally saw that Geoffrey was leaning against the side. He was looking at her with that expression of mixed emotions he often showed her when they were alone: one part still admiring her, the other bitter towards her for Sally's rejection of him.

The squirrel decided to let it pass coming to the conclusion it was not the time to talk to the skunk about his misplaced emotions toward her. The reason for his current expression however was for a different reason.

He was going to have to lie to her. His King had given him an order. It was that simple, and his heart hardened.

Sally was going to simply walk past him when the royal agent put his arm in her path.

Before Sally could say anything, Geoff spoke in his rehearsed calm tone.

"Princess, I just received this. I didn't want to waste time looking for you when I knew you would come to transport." Geoff almost shoved the letter into Sally's hands. Sally saw what it was and was slightly annoyed.

"So instead of working yourself, you just waited with a major communiqué for me to come to you?"

"I didn't want to miss you, and you might have left without me."

"Geoff, you know me better than that. I don't leave just because someone's a fraction of a second late; once I do they begin to think I consider them expendable. And that breaks the trust they have for me."

"That is hardly the way to run an army."

"Who ever said we were an army? I believe freedom fighters fit us better. As for the letter, no harm done, I'll look it over when I get back."

'Please don't follow through,' Geoff begged silently though he betrayed no anxiousness.

"I do not believe that is wise," he said. "If you're killed, heaven forbid, we would have no way of decoding the message except to request they send it again in another code. And it may be of extreme importance."

Sally knew that was true. She wouldn't be able to tell who the message was from until it was decoded, and it could indeed be anything. There were only about a half dozen other groups like Sally's that had grown to depend on each other for support.

"If this mission is successful then I'll take full responsibility.

I can answer mail later."

"Please Sally!" Geoff said, daring to use her first name for the first time in half a year. "You want your troops to have faith in you. Have faith in THEM. Sonic and Miles will be fine without you." He assured, putting on his best face. "Hershey and I will be able to handle things, trust me. Trust Sonic."

''Princess you have believed the lies of your father before and now please believe mine'', he thought.

Sally breathed in deep. "For everything I know you to be Geoffrey, untrustworthy isn't one of them."

It was a knife in the gut.

"Good luck. Tell Sonic as much." Geoff entered The Special, closing the door behind him.

Sally backed away from The Special as the engines roared. She didn't want to hurt Sonic with a good-bye that would only convince both that death was waiting for him. It was better this way; Sally had thought she was going to be fighting side by side with Sonic, now she was only going to be waiting for him to come home. She knew he would come home.

He always did.

The flying machine took off into the air becoming a silver speck in the morning sky until nothing remained.

Sally remained at the launch pad for some time.

…

Thank you to my brother and to Charles RB for editing this chapter.

Flames, comments, good or bad reviews, suggestions, reactions, occasional constructive criticism all welcome. Spelling and grammar corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too. Oh yeah and you too Ri2.


	2. Death of Evil, Betray, and Bargen with t...

Chapter Two

It had been a long and hard fight, but Sonic had won. Ivo Robotnik was dead, killed by his own robotic combat armor as it overloaded, its energy regulator destroyed from the final precise attack launched by the cobalt hedgehog.

Once again, Robotnik's overconfidence in his own designs had been the fatal error as it usually was when Sonic went head to head with the Eggman's super weapons. The flaw in the power armor was correctable, but the techno tyrant had not even bothered to check for flaws, he never did, he never thought he could make a mistake, and now he had paid the ultimate price for his bloated arrogance.

Sonic had raced past all his automated defenses, cut though solid steel barricades, shattered laser turrets and machine guns equipped with motion sensors, his mind set at the task before him, went though the defending robots as if they were child's toys, ignoring if they were manufactured or had once been Mobians. Then at last he had arrived in Robotnik's command chamber.

The grossly overweight lunatic had sneered at him behind the protective transparent faceplate of the crimson and black egg-shaped armor that was really an extension of his own body shape, with machine guns, missile launchers, and lasers topping the shoulders and arms of the personalized war machine, with giant spiked balls for hands and very powerful thrusters on the feet which allowed the suit to rise into the air and bring its ludicrous weight down on whatever was unfortunate enough to be underneath it. The armor was gigantic compared to the hedgehog, and since most Mobians were at least a head shorter than the average Terran this only added to the intimidating scene…intimidating to most, anyway, Sonic had fought hovering flamethrowers, heavily modified mechanized Mobians, even an artificial doppelganger of himself once, Sonic was mentally prepared for any mad war machine that Ivo might have conceived of.

Ivo had made a comment about how a decade ago he would have had Sonic mechanized like the rest of his family without a second thought, and then a year ago he would have just ended Sonikku's existence with a laser shot to the head. But now, he intended to make the Hedgehog suffer for every annoyance and inconvenience he had ever caused the former Warlord that King Maximilian had taken under his wing.

Sonic had made a quip about how King Max didn't have any wings seeing as how he was a fox, and the only person who would have taken the Doctor under her wing would be the Eggman's own mother, seeing as how she had laid him (no doubt with great difficulty, since he was probably ridiculously obese even crammed inside a thin white eggshell), then dodged and avoided the lasers, missiles and gun shots fired by the villain (enraged that Sonic would dare insult his dear old mum) easily, and spun forward at his target at a speed that transformed him and his quills more or less into a living buzz saw it cut though the weak metal and into the mad man hiding inside the machine.

Or that was what Sonic had planned, anyway. He was knocked back hard by the armor plating, whatever metal the armor was made of, it was the hardest material Sonic had ever encountered. Sonic had been put totally on the defensive to avoid the grasp and projectiles from the Terran monster in armor, and for all his speed and endurance, Sonic was still a living thing, soft flesh and breakable bones, and flesh no matter how well-developed got tired. Added to the fact that Sonic needed to constantly change direction in the very limited space of the Command Chamber which Robotnik had cut off all exits to -the doors made from the same material as the armor- the walls from relatively soft steel which would take too much time to cut though, and a second in the same place was all that the Doctor's weapons would need to pummel Sonic's body with deadly lasers and bullets.

Ivo Robotnik had noticed with grim satisfaction his target was beginning to slow down and redoubled his efforts. For the first time that Sonic could remember in his entire life, he was panting for breath. It had been a strange, almost alien sensation that Sonic would have reflected on in another time and place. Robotnik had towered over Sonikku, targeting the lasers and charging them to full, foolishly hesitating for a split second to enjoy the sweet moment of stamping out this pest once and for all.

The instinct to survive had taken over in Sonic's brain, overriding the fact that his muscles were screaming in protest and causing the hedgehog to dive between the armor's legs, going into a final attack, hoping beyond hope to hit something, anything, vital. Miracle of miracles, Sonic did. The power pack on the lower back of the armor was not made of the same metal as the rest of the armor, and the attack broke casing and circuits in two. Robotnik turned with his lasers fully charged, unaware of the damage done to his armor and pulled the trigger on the inside of the armor and from the uncontrolled surge from the batteries the suit detonated at once. The dictator had screamed as he was cooked in his own lard and burned to flesh and bone. That scream would be remembered by Sonikku for the rest of his life. Then, mercifully, the suit and Doctor had exploded, ending the screams forever.

Sonic had tried to avoid the flaming shrapnel but there was little cover in the half destroyed control room. Tiny pieces of hot metal pierced Sonic's arms and back, by divine will none entered his spine or skull.

It was the experience of countless hot needles invading his skin and biting his bones. He knew that he would survive if he got back to Knothole to get treatment from their Dr. Quack. But reality began to set in. Sonic knew he was bleeding and bleeding profusely. It was half a mile back to The Special, counting corridors and twists in the city streets, and he would die from blood loss before he even got within sight of it.

"Sonic!" came a voice both young and concerned. Sonic instantly saw it was Tails. The twin tailed fox had seen better days, he was bruised and battered and a trickle of blood came from his forehead closing one eye, but he was going to survive.

"Little Brother . . . . I told ya not to follow me, this was my fight."

Tails managed a smirk. "Come on Big Brother, you know I ignore you whenever you tell me not to come along."

"Heh, it's easier for me to lose my shadow than you Tails," Sonic said with a laugh which nearly blacked him out from pain. Tails was relieved that Sonic could still joke.

Ignoring the flaming wreck of Robotnik's techno armor the Kitsune went to his hero's side.

"Let's get out of here."

"Tails, I'm dying," Sonic said weakly.

Tails looked at Sonic in horror and disbelief that Sonikku could even say something along those lines, his face hardened with decision. "You aren't dead yet! They're waiting for us back at The Special. We can still make it!"

Sonic shook his head, feeling his strength draining from him. "Tails, just leave me, Robotnik's dead, I've done what I've wanted to do for ten years. Just let me die."

"No way!" Tails retorted angrily, "I've carried you before and I'll carry you now." Ignoring Sonic's protests, along with the protests from his aching legs and tails, staining himself with his adopted brother's blood, and careful not cut himself on Sonic's quills, Miles Prower lifted the hedgehog off the metal floor and began to carry him on his back.

Tails tried a few times to fly but he found that if his legs were protesting, then his namesakes were screaming. Sonikku faded in and out of consciousness as the fox carried the hedgehog with more care and concern than the fox showed himself. Sonic was one of the few people Tails even come close to calling family, ever since that fateful day when cruel fate had crossed their paths…

…

Maurice ran as fast as his legs could carry him, he had always been able to run fast, but this time he wasn't out running his friends in a game, this time he was out running what he had just seen. It couldn't have been real.

Could it? This had to be a nightmare. Tears ran down the little hedgehog's face, it couldn't have happened. It just couldn't.

This wasn't real, it was the only explanation, the police robots hadn't gone wild, they hadn't began rounding up people and systematically putting them in portable bulky metal and plastic booths, he didn't hear them scream, he didn't see as machines came out where a living person had been placed in with as much concern as for a bag of garbage. He hadn't seen the same thing happen to his family, to his mother, father, uncle, none of them! He hadn't been able to get away because he could run faster than the robots could move. He hadn't cowered in fear as he watched what was done to his family and then snapped when he saw the thing that had been his mother looked at him lifelessly. Or at least, that's what Maurice kept telling himself.

Marius didn't pay attention to the darkening sky, repeating over and over again in his young mind nothing of what was happening was real.

All the houses were broken into, not a living person seen, the police robots had been thorough, not that he noticed any of this. After an eternity, Maurice stopped to catch his breath. Then he heard the last thing he expected to hear.

Someone crying.

How Maurice had managed to hear it was a mystery to him. He considered for a moment ignoring it and continuing to run. But the crying was a curiosity in this nightmare, and it attracted him. It also told him he wasn't the last person alive either.

Maurice had run all the way from the city's central square to the residential area and the faint crying was coming from one of the smaller houses.

Following the noise Maurice saw it was an average dwelling with the door broken down and the insides totally wrecked, it was obvious whoever was taken from here left kicking and screaming. Furniture and tables were overturned, not in an attempt to damage but because they had gotten in the way of the machines and their targets. Except for the crying, it was as silent as a tomb. The white wash walls were a contrast to the total disarray of the household. Maurice didn't realize he had stopped crying.

The blue hedgehog realized just how much whoever it was must have been crying for him to hear it from outside the house. Then again, the outside was just as quiet as the inside of the house so the sound didn't exactly have much competition for his attention.

The crying led Maurice down one hallway and to the right to what he thought at first was a solid wall, but when he squinted hard he saw the outline of a small door and a latch. It was one of those storage spaces designed to mingle in with the wall so not to ruin the artistic design of the decorator, or in times of crisis serve as a hiding place that hopefully would never be found. Maurice undid the latch and swung the door open.

The small furry shape Maurice saw inside shrunk back. The little creature abruptly stopped crying as Maurice stood there, blocking what meager light filtered through the doorway, the tiny furry daring not to breath at this relatively larger intruder.

After a few seconds of utter silence Maurice decided to do the only thing he could think of.

"Hi uh..." Where was he to begin? Was he supposed to ask the little Mobian if she/he was alone? Stupid question, he guessed being small had some advantages; the police bots had missed this little creature by sheer chance. (Or had his mother placed in here?) As his eyes adjusted he saw that the little kid was about one-third smaller than him. Then he realized kit was more appropriate since the child's shape was a fox's. Finally Maurice came up with a decent question.

"What's your name?" Maurice asked. The fox looked at him for a few moments then at last said, "Promise not to laugh?" From his voice, it was evident he was male.

Maurice nodded.

"Miles," the kit breathed out.

"Miles what?"

"Prower."

Maurice thought for a moment. "Miles per-hour?" He smiled. He was surprised that the kit returned the smile instead of snapping back, this somehow made Maurice feel more alive.

"My name's Ma-" Maurice stopped, just because he hadn't laughed at Miles' name didn't mean the kit wouldn't return the favor, true this was a bit absurd but to Marius's young mind it was a genuine possibility.

He decided to use the nickname he had invented.

"Sonikku Takeshi Hedgehog. They call me Sonic, 'cause I'm faster than sound when I keep moving around," he boasted.

Apparently believing Sonic wasn't going to attack him; Miles came out of his hiding place, his bright orange and white fur showing first and his tail following behind last--tails. Sonic looked open-mouthed at the twin tails behind the little fox's back. It was a kitsune, one of the rarest-seen Mobians on the planet, save for the echidnas. Sonic had heard about them once or twice but never actually seen one, which wasn't much of a surprise considering their reclusive nature. From what he had heard, the majority of the multi-tailed foxes lived in some uncharted land called Vulpes, thought by some to be in a whole other Zone or dimension altogether, which would probably explain not only why few kitsunes were ever seen, but also why few who set out to find Vulpes ever returned…assuming the rumors of kitsune distaste of other Mobians who bothered their territory was unfounded, that is.

Miles was curious about the hedgehog's stare and looked to the direction he was staring at. He glanced at his tails and looked blankly at Sonic with a pair of bright blue eyes, not understanding what the big deal was. Sonic could guess the fox's parents had never treated Miles' tails as anything special.

Unsurprising, seeing as how he may have grown up in a community with a bunch of other kids with multiple tails before coming to live in Mobotropolis for whatever reason. "T-tails," Sonic stuttered. Now it may appear strange from a human perspective that a blue talking hedgehog that went around on two legs would find a orange fox with two tails' strange, but an extra limb was still an extra limb, and to Sonic's experience all Mobians with the exception of insects fell into the category of two arms, two legs, one head, and with or without one tail: never tails. But seeing as how rare it was to see any kitsune at all, it was quite understandable that they would be a sight to behold whenever they came into contact with other Mobians, for better or worse.

Miles looked back at his tails, and seemed to be thinking, his mind gladly deciding to block out everything that had just happened to him in favor of this new friend. His tears had dried but still stained his face. Just like Sonic.

He then looked in forced brightness at the hedgehog. "You can just call me Tails."

"Huh?" Responded Sonic.

"You said your name was Sonic because you were faster than sound?

I have two tails, and I like the sound of it," explained the little fox; obliviously thinking harder than most kids would at his age.

Reality kicked back into Sonic's head, they had to get away from here, away from the machines. He didn't know where to go, except away, he didn't even know where Sally was. Sally, she wasn't the pampered royal brat other kids had told him she was, they met when his Uncle Chuck had been working on some new revolutionary medical equipment, and had come to his Highness for funding. Before that day was out, which was how long the meeting went, Sonic had learned two things about the little princess: one, she was far from pampered, and two, she was the first person ever to outsmart him at tricks no one else had ever seen though, including his real first name, she said it was written all over his face and that he was lying, which for an experienced juvenile delinquent like Sonic was quite a surprise. Sonic convinced himself, for the first time that day of anything; she had to be alright, he just had to find her.

Leaving the house but not the bad memories behind, the two started out into the forest surrounding the main city. Then Sonic got another shock in the form of the fox flying off the ground using his new namesakes like propeller blades. Then he saw that the tails weren't going on a single axis as he had first thought when seeing them, but each was indeed going in their own circle. Given the fox's relative body weight, the size of the tails, and how fast he was spinning them, Sonic realized just how much muscle had to be in the little fox's lower back.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Sonic inquired. Again getting that confused blank look on his face for a moment, Tails shrugged when he realized what Sonic was talking about.

"I don't know, just comes to me naturally I guess." Responded Tails.

Sonic realized he himself had said pretty much the same thing to Sally when she had asked about his skills after seeing his beyond possible speed.

Sonic smiled, and sped ahead of Tails, just enough to dazzle him.

Sonic was surprised to see Tails switch his thrust from vertical to horizontal and put quite a bit into it as he kept up with the hedgehog.

Sonic felt relieved even though it was a false image, he could pretend he was just racing with a friend again. Letting go of any restraints, Sonic blasted ahead of Tails, who promptly followed at an equally impressive speed.

…

Still holding Sonic on his back as he left his shared memories of his first meeting with his big brother behind, Tails looked around at the disaster in front of the egg shape command building. The ambush had come so suddenly that it seemed for a moment that all of them were going to die; of course, Sonic had cut though them in normal fashion before heading inside to confront the doctor, but not before three of the platoon met their end. Their bodies, along with those of the shattered robots, lay scattered before the fox and hedgehog. Geoffy had been right. It was a trap.

Commanding his body to go forward Tails carried the person who had raised him as far back as he could remember toward The Special and salvation.

Tails ignored everything around him; nothing existed except for himself, Sonic, and The Special. One foot in front of the other, that was all he could do, taking each step as it came, because if he stopped even for a moment he would fall and might not get back up again.

The asphalt hadn't been replaced in years, cracks and raw dirt showed though everywhere. Tails had told the others he was going after Sonic, and could only hope they were waiting for them. The other Freedom Fighters had to be waiting for them! Sonic would die if they weren't waiting for them! And that was simply something Tails' mind refused to accept.

Turning a corner in the vast streets Tails heart lifted with relief, The Special was still there. Its engines were screaming, the last few people besides themselves that were left running onboard, the now-confused and leaderless robots attacking them as much as each other.

Forgetting everything else, Tails went into a dead sprint with the weight of Sonic now shifted onto his shoulders.

One of the robots, at that point, happened to have its targeting sensor sweep across Tails and, following its haywire programming, fired. It was like a scorching iron though the back. Tails hollered in pain, his knees buckled, his sight began to dim, but he pressed on letting out each breath with a scream of pain and coughs of blood.

A member of Geoff's Platoon shot a blast past him at the unseen machine that had shot the kit, it was getting impossible to breathe, a thousand knives stabbed into his chest each time he took breath, finally Tails collapsed, unaware of anything around him, or the fact that he had collapsed just inside the Special's loading doors. He had no way of knowing that he had saved Sonic's life.

…

On the way back to Knothole flying over the bay, the hole in the defenses meaningless with the city's defenses now having seemed to have gone mad thanks to its master's death, Geoff looked at Sonic and Tails, both unconscious and both in serious need of medical attention. They were fading, but they would make it back to Knothole in time.

How unfortunate.

Geoff despised the fact that Sonic was Sally's second-in-command in her Freedom Fighters, yes Sonic's mission record was flawless, but Geoff knew most of them had been as close one of Hershey's whiskers.

So what if he himself had failed in a few missions? Each of his successes had been carried off with perfect performance and exemplary efficiency.

The missions he had been on were fewer but were of far greater importance than the Hedgehog's. He _deserved_ the position much more than some self absorbed hot-shot freak of nature. He knew Maximilian Acorn agreed with him, but the king's daughter was still her group's commander and the decision was still hers.

Geoff knew without a doubt that Sally had chosen Sonikku for other reasons than his service record that disgusted the special agent to no end.

When the Hedgehog was away on a month-long mission, Geoffrey had approached Sally, seeking to court her. She had 'gracefully' rejected his advances, and in doing so confirmed the suspicions he had denied for so long; that the Princess was in love with that disgusting blue-haired commoner.

He clenched his fists in anger, realizing abruptly what would happen when they got back to Knothole.

Sonic had been supposed to die on this mission. Just about everyone had agreed this was going to be suicide, even the King, which was why he had arranged for Sally to be kept behind. Sonic was supposed to kill Robotnik and die trying, becoming a martyr and national hero in the process, getting some statue or memorial which could be relegated to some dim corner of a park in the rebuilt Mobotropolis where few people would bother visiting so the other people who had sacrificed so much for this war to end could be honored without that blue bastard hogging the glory, and Geoffrey wouldn't have minded getting a little credit and recognition too in the process. Oh, sure, Sally would mourn for a while, but things would work out. He'd be there to pick her up and help her put her life back together, and she would eventually come to see he was the stable support and lover that Sonic could never have been. That was the future. That was what was supposed to have happened.

The Hedgehog wasn't supposed to survive. But he had. And now he'd probably get a BIG statue, plenty of honors, maybe even marry the Princess. Oh sure, the King might protest, but with so much public support behind the coupling he couldn't dare refuse for fear of a revolt on the hands of all the people who idolized the idiot blue hedgehog. And Geoffrey would be shunted to the side again and forgotten by all.

The Hedgehog was the source of all his misery. The Hedgehog wasn't supposed to have survived.

There was only one thing Geoff could do to correct this error, and he knew what it was. It would mean sacrificing the lives of a few good soldiers, and getting rid of that annoying abomination which always tailed the hedgehog around, but the skunk was beyond caring. Sonic's very existence had all but ruined Geoffrey's future, and it was time for Geoffrey to ruin Sonic's…permanently.

…

Darkness. How long was the darkness? He couldn't tell. Flowing down a river with no idea of what was going on around. Then came a sensation that jolted him somewhat out of his stupor. Tails felt someone pick him up, he didn't know who, were they back at Knothole? Tails didn't know.

Then he felt the rush of fast moving air along his fur to one side. The support left him, the rushing air was all around him now, and he was falling.

Tails wanted to open his eyes, to spread out his tails and rotate them to get the lift that would stop his plummet toward the unknown surface below, but he was just so tired, lack of blood he supposed, not that the laser blasts hurt that much anymore, more like a half-forgotten burn really. He rotated over and over in space, he began to panic, he ordered his muscles to move, his arms and legs folded together, but his tails were like two streamers, no muscle or bone to get them to move, they simply flapped in the wind. The sound they made echoed in the kitsune ears, soon they faded, and all Tails could feel was the flow of air covering his body, the dull burning of the laser marks, his own fear, the twists and turns he made in the void, and his overwhelming exhausted state. Then he felt nothing.

…

Sally was not happy. There was no denying this fact as she stormed towards her father's hut. She had spent all day working on the encoded message she had received from Geoff at the launch pad. The message was surprisingly hard to decode, whenever she decoded part of the message she got gibberish and decided she must have made a mistake and started from the beginning.

But it soon dawned on her why the message made no sense: it was gibberish!

The entire message itself was fake. Sally had checked with Rotor, their personal handy man and communications equipment maintainer and found out indeed that no message had been sent or received that morning or the night before. Sally couldn't believe this, that Geoff would deceive her like this, even he would never do such a thing . . . unless someone had ordered him to! If there was one thing about Geoff St. John Sally had learned, it was that he followed orders . . . any order. And besides her and her brother, there was only one other person Geoff answered to, and Sally, filled with suspicion and accusation was going to face that person right now.

Sally was so angry she didn't even notice when she almost knocked her brother over coming to her father's hut. Elias didn't say anything after seeing the look on his sister's face; it could have ignited kindling.

Sally didn't even bother to knock, she was past being proper.

Her father was sitting in that overly decorated chair of his. His expression was one of only annoyance: his daughter was acting up again, he had gotten used to that when she was four.

The aged fox and teenage ground squirrel locked eyes. After half a minute of this Sally finally said in the best controlled voice she could manage, "Father, tell me you didn't ask St. John to give me a false communiqué."

I can not," He replied without regret.

That was it. Her father had done it this time. He had conspired against her. Yes, this was nothing new. But never like this.

"Why!" She hissed.

"You will not address your father or king in that tone young lady," he replied coldly.

"I ask again." Sally repeated, this time slightly more in control of her emotions. "Why have you deceived me? You made Geoff lie to me! You did all of this to keep me away from this mission; why?"

The king looked at her tenderly. "I didn't want to lose you."

Sally struggled not to yell. "I am a soldier. I do what is expected of me. And if risking my life and dying is part of that then so be it. Soldiers die. That's rule one of any war."

He glared at her. "You are not a soldier. You are an Acorn and the royal princess of the greatest country on this planet!"

"If it's so great then why are we dethroned? Oh yeah, a ruler allowed a Terran into the position of Warlord; despite the warnings, outright disapproval, and latter proof of him being anything but trust worthy presented by the king's advisors, and then poof, said Terran stabbed us all in the back! All because our ruler thought he knew best and that he had nothing to learn from those under him!" Sally spat, her restraint gone.

Now it was Maximilian's turn to try and control himself. "How dare you talk to me in such a way!" He hissed, his face changing color.

"How dare you jeopardize this critical mission?"

"I will do as I chose, I am Maximilian the First."

"If it weren't for Sonic, you would be a machine polishing Robotnik's boots!" she snarled.

Maximilian's face screwed up in disgust at the speedster's name. "That Hedgehog has been a bad influence on you from the first time you met him," he raged. "You never talked back to me until that day you met him. It was a mistake for Dr. Chuck Hedgehog to bring his nephew along on that trip to see me. Aurora help me if I could have it done over again and order that brat banished from Mobotropolis then I would!"

"If could turn back time I would be more concerned about Ivo Robotnik's take over than my social life. Sonic is the bravest,

most honorable, and noblest person I've ever met. Which is more than I can say of you!" Sally hissed.

"You ungrateful child! Noble, honorable? That Hedgehog is a stuck-up showoff whose own pride will one day kill him. It's time you put your personal feelings aside and thought about what is best for the dynasty. We are a pure blooded family!" The squirrel looked at the fox as if he had gone mad but he continued on. "I will not leave this world knowing that a generation after me will have the throne occupied by the descendant of a insurrectionist and a half-"

Too late. He had allowed his emotions to get the best of him. Sally looked at him in shock. True, cross breeding between species a century and a half ago would be looked darkly upon, but she had been taught Mobians had evolved past such things. Now, looking into her father's face, she knew that she had been taught wrong. Sally couldn't believe this. This had to be a nightmare.

This was madness. Was this the real reason that her father had disapproved of Sonic? After all this time? Wouldn't he of slipped up before? Her mother was a ground squirrel, which was where she had gotten her species from, and her father had never implied any such feelings towards Sally.

The ground squirrel took a step back from the fox. Sally had precious few memories of her mother, but each of them was like a gem she treasured above all else.

"Papa . . . . " she whispered. Sally had gone past anger, her emotions hadn't caught up with her yet, and she was in a void of no feeling at all.

She felt empty, like part of her life had been taken from her. Finally a dark and forbidding thought entered her mind. One of her mother. "Did you ever love her?" She asked at last.

"More than you could ever imagine!!" Maximilian yelled at the top of his lungs, "Get out!" Sally was more than happy to comply, her emotions with her again. But first she stopped by the pedestal that held the gold circlet she never wore that was her mark as princess. Fire was in her eyes. She took it in her hands, and bending the soft metal she twisted it until it unrecognizable and threw it at her father's feet.

She didn't even wait for her father's reaction to her ultimate symbol of defiance. Her message was plain and she voiced it clear enough as she slammed the door closed. "To Hell with the dynasty!"

Almost bumping into Elias a second time her brother caught her arm. She automatically pulled away. Elias had heard enough of what had been said inside to guess at least some of the reason behind the storm cloud over Sally's head.

"Sally, father only wanted to protect you."

"Were you a part this too?!" She snapped.

"No. I overheard what you said. It was hard not to. Please, give yourself and father some time and you'll see things differently."

She shook her head. "No amount of time can change what he said-or did." Tears started to come. "Elias, he faked a message from another group so I would stay behind. I'm our best strategist, field or otherwise, they need me. He didn't care. He didn't care that more might die because of Geoff and his stagnate tactics. He doesn't care how many are going to get killed if I'm not there, he only cares that he has both of us in line to that stupid throne."

Elias' eyes widened in shock. "Sally you're starting to talk treason."

"Words themselves haven't been considered treason in two hundred years, or do you or King Acorn plan to reinstate that old law now?" Elias noted how she had not said Father.

"I intend to wait until you and father's reason starts to return."

"He lied to me. Lied to me. A king is supposed to be the ultimate example to the people. How can any people live to ideals of honor when the king himself doesn't obey them? I've lived with this war for most of my conscious life. And if it's taught me one thing, it's that all that garbage about civilly and rules during combat means nothing during a real battle. And the same thing goes for real life. There are no rules, only survival."

"What do you suggest? Start a new coup just as the old one ends?" Elias mocked in anger.

Sally didn't know how to respond. "No, it's just, what he's done before I can rationalize or learn to accept. But now he's done this. I don't know what to think." Sally leaned with her back to the door, and slowly sank to the ground. She didn't acknowledge the embrace around her shoulders she knew was her brother's.

Sally felt some wetness against her cheeks. She had done what she had vowed never to do in her father's presence, she had lost control.

That was when she heard the familiar sound of engines, and opening her tear-stained eyes she looked up into the night sky, almost hidden completely by the tree tops and saw a familiar silver bird. It was The Special. Sally got out of her brother's embrace. He complied, also having heard the sound of the aircraft return. He knew exactly what this meant for Sally. Sally ran, adrenaline pumping and heart racing to the landing field. Her father had betrayed her. Geoff had betrayed her. But right now she had more important things to do.

Her mind's only thought was of her true love and unofficial adopted son. She was at the landing field in a time that Sonic would be proud of.

As the flying machine landed, Sally waited eagerly for Miles and Sonic to emerge, she would embrace Sonikku and kiss him and tell him a hundred times and a hundred ways she loved him.

She didn't notice a pink hedgehog who had beaten her to the landing site by a hare's whisker looking with more worry and fear than one would think was possible for such a cute and attractive face.

What Sally didn't notice, Amy did, the damage to the plane, the injuries of those who walked off, some on stretchers and some needing the help of others to walk on their one good foot. The number of injured was smaller than logic dictated it should have been, Sally wondered if they had to pull out fast, but the range of injuries was from a glancing laser burn to flesh charred clean to the bone. It didn't make sense, if you have to evacuate fast you can't stop to pick up solders whom were playing chess with death, as some of the ones she saw carted off were. A yellow duck in a white medical coat arrived at the landing field as the injured where loaded off, already taking observations of blackened skin and fur and limbs going the way they weren't supposed to as the Mobians were taken to the med hut.

Amy's heart began to race as anxiety filled her. No Miles. But Miles had promised her he would come back alive. He promised. Tails didn't break his promises, ever. He would keep his promise to her. Wouldn't he? He had to keep his promise, but as people continued to get off the transport Amy's heart turned to ice and sunk into the black waters of fear. Sonic and Tails were always the first to get off injured or not; they felt the transport far too confining for their tastes.

No. This was silly. Tails was alive. Since when did Tails or

Sonic come back with as much as a scratch from a mission? Those two could take on the lord of Hades and then laugh about it. They couldn't possibly be dead. Any second now Tails was going come off that thing exhausted and Amy was going to give him one of her trademark death grip hugs and tell him how much she loved him.

The last of the men and women came off the plane. Sonic and Tails hadn't come off. Curious, Sally came to the plane's side entrance and met Geoff and Hershey who were the last two to leave. Sally didn't notice it and neither did Amy. But the look in Hershey's eyes was the darting look of fear and it was centered around Geoff, but Sally did take note that Hershey had moved her red cloth from around her neck to around her upper right arm.

"Where's Sonic and Miles?" Sally asked simply, still no fear in her voice.

Hershey looked at her boots, she was becoming quite versed in their appearance as of late. Geoff only looked at her with all the expression of a rock.

"I'm sorry, Princess." Back to business as usual as Sally noticed he called her by her now defunct title. "Sonikku Hedgehog and Miles Prower are dead."

Everything around Sally shattered like cheap glass.

"What? St. John I'm not in the mood for jokes!"

"Princess they are dead. They died on our way back to base," Hershey responded without emotion.

Sally was frozen. Now it was Amy's turn to be in denial. She came running up to Geoff, anger etched into her words.

"I'm not buying this for a second pal! Where's Sonic? Where's Tails-chan?"

"Their bodies are somewhere out in the ocean," said Hershey, not looking at anything. "We had to dump them along with other members of the platoon to decrease our weight because a laser grazed the side of the fuel tank." She was facing Amy when she said this, but she was looking at Geoff. "It was miraculous the fuel wasn't set off."

"You're lying!" Amy went past them into The Special, calling out Tails' name: calls that would never be answered.

Sally's face still showed no emotion. She began to walk away from The Special, obviously making effort to maintain her posture. Geoff followed her. Coming side by side with her Geoff whispered, "I'm sorry Sally." First name again.

"Lying bastard," she hissed, venom on every word. Geoff knew in an instant what Sally meant. Now it was his turn to be frozen by shock. She knew. Aurora help him, she knew.

Hershey went inside to check on Amy who was fruitlessly checking the ship over for her love.

"Amy he's dead. You in denial won't resurrect him." Amy, who had not heard the black cat in her mad search spun around, tears and fire in her eyes.

"He can't be dead! I won't believe it! He has to be alive dammit!"

Hershey shuddered at Amy's words.

"Amy . . ." Hershey's attempt to comfort the little girl was slapped away.

The pink hedgehog pushed Hershey out of her way with more strength than should have been possible for her as she ran out of the Special crying and mumbling.

Hershey wanted to go after her; there was no telling what Amy would do in her state of mind. But Hershey had her own demons to deal with that night.

Hershey went to her hut in a stupor, being Geoff's second allowed her her own quarters, good; she couldn't bear to look anyone in the face right now.

Barely having the mental power to close the door, she didn't even take off her boots as exhaustion over came her. Hershey fell on her bed, out like a light.

…

Hershey's face lit up at seeing Geoff join her in the cockpit's pilots' seat of The Special, but upon seeing his expression she felt her spine turn to ice. That was not the face she was used to seeing on Geoff. It seemed distant, cold . . . . cruel.

Not saying a word to her, Geoff's paws worked at the right side of the pilots' controls. Hershey felt her temperature return to normal and beyond when she saw what he was doing, she began to rise from her chair when Geoff grabbed her upper arm, the grip was like a vice.

One of the gauges on the control panel started to drop. Panic occupied Hershey's feline face. A sound of satisfaction escaped Geoff and he flipped the switch he had just turned back into its original position, and the gauge stopped falling.

Hershey Feline heard someone whimpering, she realized it was her.

Geoff roughly released her right arm, a purple mark forming underneath her black fur.

Geoff left the cockpit, not even looking at her face. Hershey hastily put the plane on autopilot and followed him into the personnel compartment. The injured and dying were being kept at the back of the plane, away from the active soldiers. Geoff St. John closed the door that separated the two compartments. Hershey gathered up her courage and followed him in, closing the door again behind her. What she saw caused her to gasp aloud. Geoff picked up one of the soldiers so badly injured she could not even tell what race he was, causing the dying soldier to gasp out in pain. It was like her eyes were camera lenses as the name on the soldier's 'dog tag' zoomed in: Wombat Stu. Geoff slung him over his shoulder like he was so much garbage and with a quick by-pass of a failsafe that prevented the loading doors from opening while in flight, Geoff pulled a large switch. The loading doors came open, still over the Mobian ocean, the wind flapping at Hershey's fur. Geoff dumped the still living soldier over the edge to the sea below.

Hershey rushed forward and was met by a lighting fast punch to the gut. Geoff knew where to hurt people and the trained soldier fell on her knees, gasping in pain. She could only watch in horror as Geoff dumped soldier after soldier over the edge. If it had been anyone else she wouldn't have let a weak punch to the solar pexlus stop her, but it wasn't just anyone, it was Geoff, and that fact froze her in place.

Geoff picked up Sonic's body and walked unceremoniously over to the open doors. Hershey didn't know if she imagined it or not, but she could have sworn she saw Sonic's eyes half-open before Geoff dumped him over the edge to his death. Tails was next, following his mentor into oblivion.

Hershey couldn't speak, this could not be happening. What had Geoff just done? He looked at her. She fought the urge to pull her gun, finally remembering she had it and how to work her arms.

"The fuel tank was grazed by laser fire, we lost some fuel and had to dump the dead and dying. Including the corpses of Sonikku Hedgehog and Miles Prower. That is all," He said coldly. Hershey wanted to scream, this was not the Geoff she knew. Had she even known Geoff to begin with? Was this the real Geoff she was seeing now for the first time? She didn't know, and she didn't want to know. Because she already felt like she knew the answer.

What was she to do? She looked into Geoff's eyes, and saw the eyes of a killer. Not taking her eyes off him, she left the outer room and returned to the cockpit, making sure it was locked. She felt like she was going to vomit before they reached Knothole.

…

Hershey awoke with a gasp. Her whole body felt freezing and damp from a cold sweat. Even her in her dreams she couldn't find peace. She took off her red cloth piece showing the discoloration on her arm. She wasn't wearing it there to hide it from others; you get a bruise any number of ways in a battle. She wore it because in some part of her mind, she was able to pretend that if she didn't see it, it would go away. And everything would be just a bad dream. But reality wasn't so easily conquered. Curling up into a fur ball, Hershey found herself praying for a few hours of dreamless sleep.

The forces that take pity on the wrongful and torn granted her request.

…

Sally had walked away from Geoff who had seemed to have forgotten how to move. Sally hoped he was hit by a meteorite, one the size of his ego. No, make that the Eggman's ego, it was even bigger than the late human's enormous girth. Surely nothing could survive being crushed by something that large.

Sally walked with precision and a stony face, revealing nothing of her emotions.

A number of Freedom Fighters were now going past her, ignoring their commanding officer and leader as they went to meet and check on the returning veterans. There was no question that they had succeeded, if they hadn't, then no one would have returned at all. The mission had been do or die.

Ivo Robotnik was dead. A year ago or even a day for that matter Sally would have broken out the champagne she had hidden under her floor boards, laughed, and finally accepted Sonic's not-so-secret proposal. This was a day she had awaited for years, and yet she felt empty, hollow, as if she was now only a shell. Sonic was dead. Miles was dead. The two people who had mattered most in her life were gone forever.

Ignoring every person she came across, she opened the door to her hut, glad that Bunny wasn't visiting. She wanted to be alone now more than anything. No, she wanted to be with someone. That someone was dead.

Finally away from all the prying eyes, Sally screamed and threw herself on the bed in tears. This was supposed to be the day: the day for new beginnings, for new lives to start, for relationships that could never have been realized in the time of war to bloom. But there would be no new beginning for Sally. Her tomorrows were dead.

She whispered her love's name. Sally half expected his phantom to appear before her and give her comfort. But there was nothing. Sonic was gone. Miles was gone.

Her room was as silent as a crypt. Sally could only remember one time before when she had felt this alone. It hadn't been her mother's death, she was too young at the time to realize exactly what death was, or why her mother wasn't going to be with her ever again, all she knew was that her mother was gone; if anything then she had felt confused during the event: royalty seldom knew what pain was. But she learned, she learned very very well what pain was soon enough. Robotnik's take over came soon after, and she learned what pain was, what panic was, what fear was.

Her memory was foggy from the time, she was after all less than eight, but she remembered Sonic, she remembered him finding her outside the city alone and scared. Strange, huh? Ivo had started his take over at the palace itself, and yet she had managed to escape with help from her caretaker Julayla. She had no idea where her father was at the time and to this day she still didn't know where he had been. Julayla had left her outside the city in the closest thing to a hiding place she could find and told her to stay put and wait for her. She went back into the city for supplies. That was the last time Sally ever saw her.

Hours passed. Ivo didn't bother going after those who had fled into the surrounding forest, he had factories to construct, he had forces to increase, and he had enough slaves to begin the immediate work before going after the leftovers.

The hours turned into night and then the sun rose, which was when

Sonic had found her; he was with some Kitsune fox Sally didn't recognize that was about two third's Sonic's size. She was glad to see a familiar face.

After a few hours of denial, spit fire, and a few bruises Sonic finally managed to convince her Julayla wasn't coming back.

With the three of them on their own for a short time, (Sonic turned out to be a natural survivor) Tails ended up seeing Sally as the closest thing to a mother around and quickly grew attached to her, but not as much as he grew attached to Sonic, the tiny kit had imprinted on the hedgehog.

None of them could have suspected what life had in store for them that day.

And now it was over. Only Sonic and Tails weren't there to enjoy it with her. Sally cried well into the night. Someone might have said that it was worth it, that Sonic was a soldier and he knew the risks each time he fought, and that Tails wasn't a child and knew what his eventual fate would be.

Wasn't that what she had said to her father before? That soldiers knew the risks? Then why was it so hard to accept now? Death was only real when it happened to those close to you. When it happened to those you just knew, those who were just faces, you could steel yourself against it. But not with those you love.

…

Amy put her hand against the smooth cool surface of the small two-person air craft. People had always underestimated how intelligent

Tails really was, he had almost been a prodigy when it came to airplanes, just like how people underestimated how serious about life Sonic was, or how everyone underestimated her period.

She had wandered into the storage hanger where The Special was kept when not in use. She hadn't gone there on purpose, she hadn't been going in any direction when she left the transport, she could have just as easily gone in a full circle. There was only one other aircraft ever in the camouflaged structure, Amy was touching that air plane now. The Tornado had been Tails' pet project, something he had done to keep himself busy.

It might have seemed strange that someone who could fly would have a use for a bi-plane. But Tails' flying skills had their limits, he couldn't go on forever and the higher he went the less air there was for him to breathe, and it took a lot of good breath for Tails to have the strength to lift himself off the ground with any force.

Tails had used the biplane twice in air to air battles, both during Robotnik's Death Egg super weapon project, part of the chain of events that had lead to that adventure on the Floating Island. One was not to underestimate this plane in the air, though at first glance it would appear unworthy of getting off the ground. The Tornado was a traditional biplane in shape only. The materials were light and strong, and Tails had even installed a jet engine for faster speeds.

Amy had found the thing boring when Tails had first shown it to her, she couldn't figure out what the big deal was. Now thinking about him, thinking about all the time he must have spent to turn this from an antique into a fighter plane drew her in. Tails had put his life into this plane, even though he had no where to fly it.

Sonic and Tails were both dead, she had been in love with both of them. Now, by a cruel twist of fate, she had been left with neither of them.

Amy had always thought of Sonic and Tails as invincible in a fight, that nothing could hurt them they would always win. Disillusioned, Amy climbed into The Tornado's cockpit. Amy had at times thought that maybe Tails had been more interested in this plane than her, now she understood why he was so eager to explain what he saw in this plane. Not because she took a backseat to it, but because he wanted to share his passion for it with her. Now they would share nothing more. Tears staining her face, Amy fell asleep.

…

The moon shined on the deadly calm ocean like a silver spot light.

A dozen unmoving forms dotted the ocean's surface, the water around them a murky purple. One of them, an orange furred fox, slowly breathed in and out. Save for a laser bolt in his lower back, his injuries were relatively minor, however the flesh underneath the fur was peeling, and it was obvious that the fox would die of the freezing waters if nothing else.

The stars stood as silent witnesses to the fox's fate, along with a cobalt hedgehog surrounded with more blood than seawater.

If anyone conscious had been there, they would have noted how the temperature around the place had suddenly dropped greatly without warning, and how the seawater started to turn choppy. They would then notice a point of darkness coming into existence above the collection of dead and dying. The darkness descended until it was right above Sonic's forehead, it then floated over the others, stopping for a few seconds at Tails as if confused before moving on. Satisfied after a moment, the point of darkness flew to the edge of the collection of bodies.

The darkness grew around it, intensified, increased in mass.

A shape began to form, then deform, and attempted to reform again. It was apparent that it was having trouble making itself whole. But little by little it took shape until it was fully formed. Hands no more than skin and bones grasped a coal-black staff shaped like an open mouthed serpent with folded wings, rearing its head back to strike. White beads set in a neat pattern clipped natural dreadlocks at the ends and three in the middle of each dread. A natural crescent moon symbol on the chest fur shown ghostly white in the moonlight. Haggard brown fur covered the body of what was beyond a doubt an Echidna with the long deadlocks and sturdily built shape and muzzle. He seemed very old, as if Time itself had forgotten him.

A pair of dark eyes presided over the potential crop. He stood on top of the water, clearly not bothered by the fact that it was liquid and there was nothing solid to support him.

His eyes rolling into the back of his head, the ancient brown Echidna began whispering words that would have made seasoned mercenaries shudder in a wave of despair and dread even though they wouldn't have understood a syllable. A black mist began to form around him and snake its way around each of the bodies, it seemed hesitant with Tails but then went about its task with the little fox.

Sonic was slowly lifted up from the purple-crimson water by the dark threads, water and blood dripping from his fur and quills. The others followed suit, like undead rising from their graves. Still, Tails resembled a sleeping child more than anything else.

The dark thick smoke-like threads crawled into Sonic's mouth, nose and open wounds. The Echidna's head snapped forward, (a wonder his fragile neck didn't shatter), Sonic's body jerked, and the hedgehog vomited blood and sea water in kind. His eyes slowly opening as if awakening from a deep sleep, the dark threads pulled on Sonic's head, making him come face to face with the dark figure before him.

"W-who . . . ." whispered Sonic.

"I am Riahta," the ancient spoke in a voice of charm and grace. "I am the emissary of the Great Walkers. I have seen what has befallen you and feel it my duty to intervene on your behalf. You have been betrayed by those who you called allies, left for dead. This is a wrong that can not be ignored. All you need do is promise loyalty to us, and you will be healed, and given the strength and power to seek justice from those who have attempted to murder you."

Sonic's head was swimming. It was so hard to think, he remembered the battle with Robotnik, he remembered Tails picking him up, things then became like a blur, he remembered Geoff with an indifferent face, then falling, followed by darkness. Who had betrayed him? Geoff? Sonic couldn't bring his thoughts into focus. Who was his guy?

He was Riahta. The great but humble messenger of the Great Walkers, said a convincing voice inside Sonic's head. He wanted to help Sonic. That bastard Geoff had tried to kill him. Geoff was the one who deserved to rot in the ground, feeding the worms. Sonic had done nothing but helped those around him. And what he gotten in return?

Cruel criticisms from Sally's father, endless insults from that stupid skunk, and Sally's complaints about how his overconfident attitude would get him killed one day.

'No! Being a hero isn't about praise or rewards, it's about doing what's right when you have the power,' said a tiny voice somewhere Sonic couldn't quite place and really didn't understand what it was saying, so he decided to ignore it. Riahta was offering him justice for the first time in his life. He accepted it. He eagerly accepted it.

The voice inside his head which he knew to be his own thoughts praised him for making the right decision.

Riahta smiled a fatherly smile, (to anyone else it would have been seen as the smile of a jackal about to consume its meal), apparently happy, and extended his hand.

"Will you accept any price for the justice you crave?" He said, already knowing the answer. He should. He put it in Sonic's weakened, vulnerable, and pathetic mind to begin with.

"Yes!" Sonic said, thinking of acts of violence against Geoff with desire.

"Very well . . ." Riahta smiled. They shook hands.

Sonic felt like he was being ripped apart. A scorching iron poked its way into his brain, setting every nerve ending on fire. Sonic didn't know if he was screaming or not he hurt so much. He vaguely heard over the roar of the blood rushing through his head others screaming so he assumed he was too. The hot probe felt like tentacles in his mind feeling, touching at his thoughts and memories.

He felt the urge to bring up the image that most embodied hate in his mind.

The answer came almost reflexively. Machines. His bones turned to sand; his muscle fibers were pulled apart thread by thread, his internal organs melted, and his mind went in a thousand directions at once. He felt a hot cold feeling grow all over his body, it covered his chest, and then his leg and arms, it covered every finger tip, the stub of each toe, it cover his head and face, it went under his eyelids and covered his eyes, it then went down his throat and spread throughout his entire body.

He felt himself fall into an abyss which had no end.

There was no light, no feeling, no sensation. Then there was a sound. It was a heartbeat. His heartbeat. Then a feeling, that of cold around and within his whole body. There was a new sound, a voice. The voice was all knowing, the voice had no equal, it could not be wrong. This was a simple truth.

'Fast as sound you were and Sonic was your name, now faster you shall be and Lightspeed will be your name,' the voice said, and it was so.

Lightspeed opened his eyes. Looking down at himself he saw his magnificent new body, made out of a metal that was at once harder than the Doctor's armor and yet as flexible and fluid as silk, gleaming a beautifully cruel blue in the light emanating from his blazing red eyes. He flexed his fingers, marveling at the strength he felt in his new silvery claws which were sharp enough to slice through flesh and bone as easily as a scissor through tissue. He ran those powerful claws down his back to find that his quills were in a split-down pattern, one row on either side of his back coming together on his head. The quills had grown longer, thinner, and more numerous, so that his back looked as if slender silver scimitars were growing from it. A piece of long spiked plating was on both shoulders. On one shoulder was a cylinder with one end round and the other hollow around the side of one fourth of his back, it was an energy weapon grafted onto him, it responded to his thought as would a limb. His jaws, a far superior set of silvery incisors than that pitiful copy the laughable Doctor Robotnik had constructed in another ridiculous attempt to best him.

Lightspeed looked behind himself to see the others reborn as well.

Each one was formed in living armor the same color as their fur, each with unique and deadly weapons that were a very part of their body.

"This one," Riahta said, pointing to one of the transmuted Mobians. Lightspeed's attention was drawn to one Mobian whose body armor covered him more thickly than the others. It was virtually impossible to tell what his original race had been, save that he had been yellow since the living metal which was his skin radiated a glaring golden light. He towered over the rest of the changed ones, every inch of his massive body emanating raw power, from his long, thick legs to his muscular torso to the pair of huge arms floating at his sides, unattached to his shoulders, which ended in very large claws. His head was cloaked in an eyeless helmet resembling that of a knight from medieval Mobius, with a pair of bull-like horns growing from the sides and a blood-red scarf trailing down his back that writhed and twitched in a wind that wasn't there, its tail ending in what looked startlingly like a claw. Wrapped within the living scarf was an immense broadsword, as long as the monster was tall and almost as wide. "Was once Wombat Stu. Now he is Shine." And it was so.

"He will be third to you." Lightspeed's attention was then drawn to what was once a Kitsune fox. "This one previously was your second. And he will be again. Once he was named for his attribute, now he will be named for his force. Tempest."

Orange and white armor covered the body as if it were skin, which for all intents and purposes it was. The two Kitsune tails now resembled the blades of a giant scissors more than anything else, only these were flexible, versatile blades, swishing lightly and silently through the air, their edges so sharp that a single nick from one would probably be enough to fell a tree. There was a red eye-shaped gem in each of the delicate metal palms that glowed with an inner light, surrounded by curved claws very similar to Lightspeed's own. A third eye-shaped gem was set in his forehead, and a larger one on his chest. His nose had become a silver spike growing from an iron muzzle with jaws which were also like Lightspeed's. Blade edges grew from his elbows, shoulders, and knees. His feet curved into metal talons similar to those of a bird of prey. There was no expression on the face. None at all. If anything, it had the look of someone whose eyes were open while they were still asleep.

"And the others shall serve you," Riahta continued, pointing out the other monstrosities one by one. The first was a huge ursine beast even larger and heavily muscled than Shine, with dull brass armor instead of gold, his long, thick arms ending in gauntlets with huge straight claws which almost scraped the ground. He had a green scarf similar to Shine's in design, and his bestial face was framed by numerous jagged yellow spikes and a blood-red helmet. His mouth had been transformed into a huge metal bear-trap which would render him incapable of speech, but give him a rather impressive bite. "Monkshood."

A short green duck coated in what looked like glowing emerald down. A closer observation would show that each feather could be detached and flung away, where it would explode rather impressively. The living metal which made up his skin extended to his beak as well, curving it into a more hooked, predatory look rather than the plain flat bill of your average duck. His eyes had a deranged look to them, rather unsurprising considering his job prior his transformation, namely that of an explosives expert. "Hiroshima."

A porcupine, her chest and legs covered in seamless plates of lavender metal, her arms with brown shoulder pads and plates over silver claws, and a back from which spikes much like Lightspeed's, only longer, straighter, and much more numerous, protruded. "Havok."

A black porcine figure with cloven hooves of gold which could kick through stone, a massive, thick, muscular arms with three-fingered hands and very big silver bracers, tusks of titanium, and small, beady red eyes. Since his metal jowls were so large they covered up whatever neck he might have. He was every bit as obese as the late Doctor Robotnik. "Plutus."

An armadillo with an extremely heavy and extremely thick red armor shell on her back, a long tail made from chunks of metal connected by links of chain, spiked arms which could combine to form a drill, and a face covered up by what looked like the kind of muzzle used to restrain mental patients. "Terra."

A feral lynx on all fours, every pointed hair on its body, including the whiskers, were actually sensitive pieces of living metal which allowed the monster to sense changes in the wind caused by motion around it. Its claws and fangs twitched anxiously, hungering to rend and tear weak flesh apart. Oil slavered from its mouth, dripping into the sea and befouling it. "Ferrus."

A bipedal turtle that only came up to Shine's chest, but made up for his lack of height in body armor. His natural shell had gotten a thousand times stronger, covered in gray-white plates on front, red plates on the rim, and dozens of strong black and yellow spikes on the back. His limbs were short and stocky, but they had to be since they could at a moment's notice be retracted into the turtle's shell. His head was covered in a horned helmet with a large red gem plate over the forehead and a thick, sharp beak for a mouth which could probably snap iron bars in two. "Terratus."

A chameleon whose blue skin had shifted to form the sleek, stealthy garb of a ninja. His tightly coiled metal tail looked as if it could at any moment lash out like a whip and strike at whomever its master wished, and with the many spikes lining its length it was certain that it would hurt a lot more than a regular whip. Rows of magnetically attached shuriken crisscrossed his chest while a sheathed katana was attached to his back. The chameleon's white eyes were devoid of pupils or iris, and the figure seemed strangely faint, as if at any moment he could disappear. "Shade."

A bizarre creature, hunched over and covered in brown scale armor, with a huge bill much like a duck's, save that it was lined with millions of very tiny, very sharp fangs, taloned feet with long, nasty-looking spurs growing from the heels, and a long metal paddle tail like a beaver's, except this one looked more like something you'd use to bludgeon a person to death with then to slap at water and mend dams with. Every scale had a glowing red rune etched into it which made one feel rather dizzy and sick by looking at them, due to their complexity and otherworldly nature. "Anark."

"It is from the Order energies of the Slave Emerald that have endowed you power, and Order Knights you are." And it was so. A fading voice in Lightspeed's mind screamed this wasn't right, but he ignored it and it died rather quickly, unmourned and unmissed by any.

The oceans turned choppy and a gargantuan mass began to rise from the sea, at first it appeared to be a shapeless rock dug up from the ocean floor, but the dark threads wrapped around it and twisted at it and cut at it, and some were even joined into it. A blood-red glow came from parts of the gigantic stone as it began to change.

It slowly took shape until it resembled a bird of prey with its wings and long head, fused with the tail and legs of a scorpion.

"This shall be yours, and will be named for what is also yours: Vengeance."

If the voice could have been at fault, one would have asked what real use they had for a ship with all the power going though them.

But the voice could not be wrong.

And besides, just because they were strong didn't mean they could fly, they were still somewhere out in the middle of the ocean and it would be rather inconvenient to have to slog all the way back to shore across the ocean floor.

Riahta coughed up some blood and began to silently curse in his own true voice at last and not the voice of which he was a slave to.

"Now," Riahta whispered. "Take what is yours." Riahta spat a foul word and vanished from sight, to appear again within the massive ship's bridge, which was empty of what was considered normal controls and instead held symbols on the circular room's walls and floor. One only needed to stand in the right place and touch the right markings and visualize the desired effect on the ship and it would occur.

The belly of the ship opened up and the Order Knights of the Dark Walkers floated in the air into the vessel. It closed like a hungry maw.

…

The celebration was put together in haste. But people were still enjoying themselves. No one had been able to find Amy since the return of The Special and some were beginning to fear what the girl hedgehog would do to herself, or had already done. Maximilian never socialized, and he didn't break his tradition this night. Elias had made it clear he was not in the partying mode, besides, he needed a chance to talk to his father, and this was probably the best chance he was going to get with everyone else celebrating and no one to do business with the king. Sally had only set foot in the place at the extreme urging of her brother and best friend.

There was the matter of retaking the city from Robotnik's now malfunctioning machines, and rebuilding, and figuring out what to do with his former flesh and blood slaves as well as his rather annoying and useless nephew Snively hiding somewhere within the massive machine city. But tonight was for celebration first and foremost. The war room was had been retrofitted into a party house with great success and was being enjoyed by all. Well, almost all…

Sally was like a ghost among the others, and her mood felt colder than Bunny's metal parts. Hershey was more like a shadow, avoiding everyone's view as if hiding some unknown crime. But most were enjoying themselves far too much to notice either of them. Sally was thinking how after the war was over, she and Sonic had wanted to spend their lives together.

Now they never would. Sally was able to put a mask of an expression on her face, but inside she was slowly being ripped apart.

Sally allowed her mind to drift among the voices and cheers of celebration. Closing her eyes, she thought back to every time she had been with Sonic, Maurice. She opened her eyes when she felt a hand touch her shoulder.

Seeing only a murky image she realized she had been crying again.

Blinking away the tears she saw it was Geoffrey. She swore under her breath and looked him in face awaiting his statement.

"Sally how many times do I have to say I'm sorry? Sonikku and

Miles were already dead; it was the only way to get back without crashing. Sonic did what he set out his whole life to do. Kill Robotnik. In a way, you should be happy he died in the peak of his existence," the skunk foolishly insisted.

"Shut up about Sonic," Sally retorted venomously. Geoff was shocked by her sudden tone but not entirely surprised. "You never truly knew him; all you could see was what you wanted to see. I know what you thought of Sonic, and let me tell you Sonic was nothing like what you saw him as. Sonic was more noble, courageous, and honorable than you'll ever be!"

Sally blinked and realized everyone was looking at her, startled by her outburst. She turned red and wished she could turn invisible. At times like this, the situation was often the reverse and she would have to come to Sonic's or Tails' rescue.

"Excuse me," Sally said, bowing her head. Everyone was already getting back to their own business and so Sally had truly nothing to concern herself with. She looked again at Geoff. "You lied to me, Geoffrey St. John, I can never forgive that."

"I was doing as your father commanded," he affirmed.

"So my father's will overrides my responsibilities?"

"As it should be-" He winced. 'Too late. Mistake. Stupid.'

"I have nothing more to say to you." Sally said flatly.

…

A giant dark shape flew over the Great Forest. Knothole had precious few early warning systems, but the individuals on the vessel knew them all and the ship went undetected. It created a shadow over the base village as it extended its arachnid legs and landed on the ground with a thud in the center space. But with nearly everyone in the war room celebrating and with the noise level as high as it was and the landing point being on the opposite side of the village, it went unnoticed.

The side of the vessel opened, and the Order Knights, of the Great/Dark Walkers, disembarked. It was simple to guess where everyone was from the sound of voices and chatter.

…

None of the Freedom Fighters could have guessed what would happen next. The door bust open and over half a dozen monsters rushed into the War Room.

No one was armed, what point was there now that the war was over? The monsters began to push everyone into the 'corners' of the circular room, silencing any protests and screams with brutal finality. Sally was hardly helpless without a gun, she knew Judo inside and out, and Bunny was going along just waiting for Sally to make the first move. But before she could act, Sally looked at one of the machine-like creatures and was shocked to her core. It was Sonic!

She glanced to another. Miles! They were alive! Alive! They weren't roboticized, that much was clear. But what were they?

What had happened to them?

"Sonikku?" Sally whispered. She didn't notice Geoff taking a step back, obviously having recognized Sonic as well. Hershey's heart fluttered, as strange as it sounded, she was just happy those Geoff had pushed off were alive…which was sort of offset by the fact that they had been turned into horrible monsters.

What Lightspeed did next was too fast to see with the naked eye except as a blur, the shoulder cannon brought itself into position, aimed, and fired. The laser bolt went clearly though Geoff's chest and though the wall behind him, leaving a cleanly cut hole through his body like a sculptor's tools with the smell of cooked flesh. Geoffery looked down speechlessly at where his heart and part of his lungs should have been; now there was just a gaping smoking hole. He gurgled, blood dribbling down his chin, and he fell backwards like a rag doll, his remaining organs splattering all over the floor as he hit the ground dead.

Hershey struggled to keep from fainting. Some more screamed and were cruelly put down. Sally only looked in shock at Sonic…or who he had once been.

I welcome all comments, flames, and the occasional constructive criticism. And thanks to Ri2 for editing this.


	3. Fire and Steel . . . .

Chapter Three

Sally stared at Sonic in horror. What had once been Sonic. Though she had been overjoyed to see he was alive at first, the reality of what had just happened sunk in rather quickly. Lightspeed saw something in her eyes he had never seen when she had looked at him before: fear.

This confused him to no end.

Sally looked down at Geoffrey St. John's corpse then at the hedgehog who had at one time been her fiancé; then at the two-tailed fox that had been the closest thing she had ever had to a son, and forced the words out of her mouth.

"Sonic . . .Miles."

"Sally," murmured Lightspeed.

" . . . What has happened to you?!"

He looked puzzled by her reaction. "What has happened? The Great Walkers have given me a second chance at life, and revenge on that piece of shit there at your feet! He left us to die, Sally. He knew we could make it back and get help but he threw us out of the Special with the full intention of killing us! He wanted you, Sally, and he knew that could never happen as long as I was alive."

Sally's eyes widened in shock. Now everything, (for a part) made sense, Geoff's actions, Hershey's recent demeanor. Sally stole a glance at the cat that was hiding in the subdued crowd, hoping to vanish into the shadows along with her guilt.

Hershey wouldn't meet the squirrel's eyes for all the wealth on Mobius. Sally would have to deal with her another time, though.

"What these Walker, whoever they are, have done is turn you into the very thing you despise, you're worse than St. John, you're below his level, can't you see that? What are you now? Are you still the hedgehog I fell in love with Sonic?!"

"It's Lightspeed now!" Sonic snapped. Sally looked Tails in the eyes. "And what about you, Miles? Are you so full of Sonic's hatred you've lost that unbreakable moral compass that's guided you you're entire life? What would Amy think of you now?" A look of deep confusion and fear entered Tails' face, but it died a few seconds later.

"Amy . . . Aunt . . . my name is Tempest," Tails droned, his voice trailing off into nothing.

She glared at them. "I don't believe that, and I don't think either of you believe that either!"

The two bio-mechanical warriors looked into the ground squirrel's eyes and were met back by an equally powerful gaze. Their eyes locked, unmoving and direct. It hit Sally like a tank that both of these entities could kill her in a moment if they decided. But Sally didn't move, she had had her fill of running away, hiding, like what had happened during the coup.

It should be noted that Sally's thinking was flawed in the respect that she was a child at the time of Robotnik's coup and quite incapable of doing anything. Also to note is that if she had stayed behind she would have been dead or Ivo Robotnik's slave by now. But this was her Sonic and Miles, and seeing them alive and a moment later witnessing them commit murder was an emotional rush that had successfully clouded her judgment. But Sally wasn't thinking this way, her thinking was that this time she would not run away, this time she would stand her ground.

Sally looked into Tails' now emotionless eyes, those eyes once so full of life and hope even on the darkest of days, now only seemed filled with coldness and apathy. Her blood turned to water as she looked into Sonic's eyes, the ever-resilient smirk on his face gone, and his eyes no longer strong, just vicious. But through it all she still didn't move, not even as she saw the blow come down at her, knocking her to the floor, hard.

"Bitch! We nearly died, which would have left you alone and miserable; and this is what we get for returning to you?! The Great Walkers and their messenger Riahta gave us back my, our, lives that St. John tried to take away. We'd be dead if they hadn't interfered. Does that mean nothing to you? I thought you cared more!"

"I-I do," she said, startled. "It's just that I-"

"Tell me Sal, if you cared so much, where were you when St. John tried to kill me and Tails? Where were you I killed Robotnik and nearly died in his fortress if Tails hadn't come along? You were right here, safe and sound, while we fought and died for you! While we were betrayed by our own ally! I thought you were better than Max, Sally. I was wrong." Sally felt like she had been knifed in the gut. She looked to Miles for comfort but only found that same unfeeling expression on his face. "I thought you were above this, Sally…I had thought that now that all threats were gone, we could rule Mobius together. But now I see you're just as hypocritical and traitorous as the rest. The Great Walkers are the true masters of Mobius, Sally. They rescued and aided us when you and your kind betrayed us. They gave us new life when we were left for dead. They won't abandon us when we're no longer useful. Together, we will lead this planet into a new era of prosperity…and I had hoped you could be a part of it. I guess not."

She was shocked. "Listen to yourself for one moment! The Great Walkers have turned you into monsters! If you truly believe they will be any better than Robotnik, then my Sonic really is gone."

He scowled. "So be it. It's for the greater good that the other Order Knights and I are the way we are now so that we can better carry out justice, and if you can't see that then you are an enemy. But go ahead and strike your so-called-lover if it makes you feel any better." Lightspeed walked right up to Sally, and stood there patiently.

The princess stood up then, wound up, and hit him square in the jaw. She gasped in pain and stumbled back, feeling as if she had hit a brick wall…make that a metal wall, which was probably what Lightspeed's jaw was made of. "Feel better?" he asked innocently.

Sally glared at him. "You are not my fiancé. The Sonic I knew and loved would never do what you've done.-" Sally ducked as Lightspeed returned the blow she had given him, Sally grabbed the arm and flipped Lightspeed on the floor so fast it left an impression."-But I know you have to be in there somewhere. Fight this hatred and malice Sonic. I know you can-" Sally was cut off as Lightspeed shot out an arm that closed around her throat. Lightspeed had been playing before, now he wasn't. Sally tried to pry the living metal hand away but its grip was like a vice. The bio-mechanical got off the floor keeping his hand on Sally's neck. Sally attempted to punch him in the face again, but he caught her fist in mid-swing. He didn't let go, he just kept closing his hand around hers tighter and tighter. Sally could hear bones breaking, she screamed and pulled frantically at her hand, ignoring that it only increased the pain.

Just as Sally was about to black out from pain, Lightspeed released his grip and slammed her into the wall.

Sally's world tilted and became a blur. She tried to get up but the room went on its side. Trying to find her center of gravity, she forced her limbs to respond and her eyes to focus. Just as her head stopped pounding, something hit her in the stomach, causing her to fall on all fours, much to the displeasure of her broken hand. She looked up and saw Lightspeed's face.

"Now do you see the futility of it, Sally? You should have joined us while you had the chance."

The other Freedom Fighters had been pushed down by the Order Knights since they had blasted in. Bunny Rabbot had watched the entire soap opera with Sally and Lightspeed with grim fascination. Realizing how much danger Sally was really in, Bunnie took the Knight holding her (Plutus) by surprise using her robotic limb threw the monster into Lightspeed, knocking him right onto Geoff's dead body.

"Go, girl!" Bunny called out to Sally before the Order Knights covered her like jackals on carrion, slamming their metal fists into her like jackhammers, but Bunny kept returning every blow. Lightspeed pushed Plutus off of him and eagerly got off St. John's corpse. He then saw Sally was gone. "Stop wasting your time with her, and bring back Sal!" he barked to his subordinates.

Seeing Sally had gotten away, Bunny went limp, allowing the Order Knights to lock her down. When it was over, her body was covered by cuts, bruises, and dents, but she didn't care, her friend had escaped, that was what was important.

…

What was it that Sally had said to herself a few minutes before? She was through running away; she was through hiding. And yet here she was again, running from the danger. But at least she wasn't going to hide this time.

Sally knew Sonic saw her as a threat, and that Elias and Sally's father would be all the more in danger. Thankfully her legs were the one part of her that wasn't injured. Elias hadn't been at the celebration because he was still doing his best to convince father the error of what he had done. As for her father, well he said such things were below him.

She made her way to the place her father and brother were staying. She came in without even knocking, calling to her brother and father. King Max turned to reprimand Sally for such rudeness unbecoming a princess (he still considered her one after her previous outburst, believing it to be nothing but a tantrum) but stopped before he even got started, seeing her bashed and beaten form.

"Daughter, what happened to you?"

"Sonic," she gasped, short of breath.

He gave her a confused look. "Sonikku is dead my daughter."

"No, just buried alive." Sally then went on to tell her family about Lightspeed, the Order Knights, Geoff's death, (which Max seemed very concerned about), Sonic's revelation, and the reason for her injuries. Elias was shocked at the news that Sonic could have done what he did, their father seemed to have expected it.

"You have to go," Max said sternly. "I don't want to think what Sonic will do to you, considering what he did to St. John."

Elias nodded. "I agree, we must all leave at once."

Sally shook her head. "No King Acorn, you and Elias go. I'm staying."

He stared at her in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind child? You are coming with us and that's an order!"

"No father, I've run away too many times. The reason I stayed there as long as I did was to prove to myself that I can do more than run away."

"And look where it got you!" King Max snapped, pointing to Sally's wounds.

"Look, I know I'm injured; I'll only slow you down."

"Which is why you're coming with us!"

She shook her head. "I'm not deserting Knothole, unlike you it means something to me."

"I do not have time to argue with my own daughter!" Max said, standing up as his face turned red.

"I don't think we have time to debate this," Sally's brother said, looking out the window, a number of the Knights where coming their way, searching house after house.

"I agree, my son," Max said, making a small nod at Sally.

Elias walked calmly to his father and sister, clenched his fist, faced Sally, then turned and knocked out his father in one punch.

Sally was confused. "Why?"

He smiled at her. "Father hasn't learned to respect your decisions sister, I have. And if you feel it's your duty to stay here then so be it. Though father will be mad as a hornet when he wakes up."

She chuckled. "At least he'll be alive to feel angry. I'll make a rush for it and you get out the back window."

"Not necessary." Elias pulled out what seem to be a remote from under one of the tables, and clicked on it. Sally heard an unlocking sound.

Elias pulled at part of the floor and it opened, revealing a tunnel. It was crudely made and looked like anyone in it would have to watch their head and footing.

"When did you? How did you?" Sally asked in astonishment, during her ten years in Knothole, Sally would never have guessed her father had an escape route from his own room.

"Father keeps a lot of things secret from you, Sally." She instantly thought of her mother, and her brother who until a number of months ago she had not even known existed, but her father had known from the beginning. Yes, her father kept secrets from her, an escape route in her own base, unknown only to her, was not below her father.

"I found that out the hard way a long time ago," Sally said in a cold voice.

Elias hoisted his unconscious father on his back, and descended into the pit.

"Sally, good luck," Elias said just before closing the floor plate from the inside. Sally heard pounding on the door.

Sally straightened herself as best she could, looking around and making sure there was no way the enemy could tell if or how her family had escaped. The door turned to splinters as the thing called Shine, once named Wombat Stu, aimed his sword at the young ground squirrel. Sally raised her hands above her head and walked forward. Sally and the bio-mechanical stood face to face, then she spat in his. The fist was outside her peripheral vision, she only knew something hard had hit her on the side of the head and then she knew nothing.

…

The sun shone high in the sky without a cloud in sight, radiating its warmth and light on Knuckles. Plants flowed in the soft wind, and birds played their simple tunes on trees standing tall and strong. The Echidna couldn't help but smile; the weather was perfect and matched for his mood. Knuckles had been thrilled at the news, Sonic's engagement to Sally had been canceled, and she had announced she was looking for potential suitors. Knuckles knew no one would mind him leaving the island on personal business this one time. In fact, the Ancient Walkers had given him their blessing according to great grandfather Athair, though she didn't even know about his purpose yet. Julie-Su had taken it surprisingly well, she had not been upset at all. In fact she had seem very happy for Knuckles. He sighed pleasantly, feeling at peace with nature and himself for this day of all days.

But as he walked toward Knothole, his good mood faded as he saw smoke rising, and caught a whiff of an unusual smell.

The stubborn pessimistic side of him that had remained silent all morning started shouting at him for foolishly thinking nothing bad would happen today as he ran towards the village, unconsciously throwing his present into a nearby hollow tree stump to keep it safe from whatever was going down in the village.

As he came to the edge of Knothole he could not help but feel a deep sense of sorrow at what he found there. Dead bodies lined the ground in a hideously neat pattern, the freedom fighters Bunny Rabbot, St. John, Amy, Hershey, and faceless Mobians rotting on the ground. Now he knew what that strange smell was, it was the wretched stench of burning flesh and fur. He looked frantically through the bodies to see if Sally or Sonic were among them, and was relieved to see that they weren't. He continued to walk through the now dead Knothole. All the houses had been burned, leaving only ugly shells, some of which still burned. Not a sound could be heard except for the crackle of dying fires. The stink was so strong even flies wouldn't come near this place.

Knuckles forced himself to take in each new breath, taking in also the sensation of death that hung over the place like a thick blanket. He kept calling out for Sally and Sonic, hoping to hear their voices in reply to his own, but he heard nothing. He searched for several minutes only to find death and destruction everywhere he went.

Who could possible be responsible for this? The Doctor? The Legion? Mammoth Mogul? Sally and Sonic had no end of enemies who would gladly have trashed Knotehole, but none of this was the style of any of the enemies Knuckles knew of! But who was to blame, then, for this catastrophe?

He started when he saw something different from the countless dead. A cut and scratched blue hedgehog looking around in the same manner as him.

"Sonikku!" he cried, relieved his friendly rival was still alive.

"Knux!" an equally relieved Sonic replied, dashing over.

"What in the Walker's name happened here? Where's Sally?"

Knuckles demanded.

Sonic shook his head in horror. "What happened? Lightspeed, Tempest and the Dark Knights happened!"

Knuckles blinked in confusion. "Who?"

"Sonic!" Both looked and saw an orange fox limping toward them. One of his twin tails had been crushed, leaving an ugly stump.

"Tails!" They said together. "Do you know where Sally is?"

Knuckles asked. The fox slowly shook his head. Knuckles ground his teeth, this perfect day had turned into a living nightmare.

"I do." Sonic said in a droning voice.

"Where?!" Knuckles asked.

Sonic slowly raised his arm, pointing to something in the smoke-covered sky.

Knuckles saw a metal monster floating the smoke, it was like a cross between a metal bird of prey and a scorpion; he could tell it was a war ship.

It hung like death's head over the wooden graveyard, as if surveying the fruit of its labors, it's legs two great sets of masses among the debris. Knuckles didn't hesitate.

"Come on let's go, if that's where she is then that's where

I'm going. Whoever's ruined your home is gonna answer to me, I didn't come all the way down to the surface for nothing!"

Sonic smirked. "Heh, you sound just the way I used to, what happen to the clear-thinking Guardian of the sacred Floating Island?"

"Hey, they don't call me Knuckles for nothing. All I know is if Sally is there then we'll get her out," Knuckles said looking at the flying war machine. Then he noticed something strange. "What do you mean 'used to'? You're the same blue, cocky, morals and will like iron hedgehog as far I can tell, and I know you're just dying for me to say 'no' just so you can go off on your own."

Sonic shook his head. "I can't help you Red."

Knuckles was stunned. "Why?! You love Sally! You've literally walked into the jaws of death and worse to protect her before. These creeps trashed your town to get her! What's different now?" Knuckles stared at Sonic and was shocked at what he saw.

On Sonic's arm was a piece of what he could only describe as living metal and it was growing. Knuckles snatched his hand back and looked at Tails in fearful anticipation and saw the same thing on his shoulder. Tails spoke in a solemn tone the Echidna had not heard before. "We are trapped and we are dying, Guardian. Slowly and horribly."

Sonic then spoke, his body now almost completely covered in metal. "It's up to you to save her this time, Knux-augh!" The things had begun to strangle both Sonic and Tails. Knuckles was about to try and pull them off when six of the bodies around them stood up from the ground, not revealing walking dead, but living cyborgs of the like Knuckles had never seen before. They weren't a surgical mishmash like the Legion, or had the razor sharp contrast of partially roboticized Mobians, the transition of flesh to metal was smooth and clean without a hint of contrast. There was a Pig, Porcupine, Armadillo, platypus, and a warped version of a medieval golden knight. Knuckles turned his attention back to Sonic and Tails, now completely covered by the living armor. In Sonic's arms was Sally, brutally injured. She tried to say something but Sonic covered her mouth with his metal claws. Sonic and Tails spoke up in voices with perfect unison. "We are Lightspeed, Tempest, and the Order Knights of the Dark Walkers, Guardian!" Knuckles was shocked, this could not be real!

Then the Knights began to walk into the smoke, Knuckles gave pursuit but tripped on something, landing his face in the dirt. Knuckles saw to his horror it was the dead body of his father as Sally vanished into the smoke.

"Sally!" Knuckles jumped from his bed. His room was as black as pitch except for the red glowing clock face. It was two past midnight. It had been a dream, thank goodness. It had felt real, too real. Knux touched the side of his face, and froze, it was covered with soot.

It didn't matter if it wasn't sane, logical, or reasonable—he didn't know what he had experienced but knew it had been no dream. He sat there for about twenty seconds before there was a knock at the door. Slipping on his gloves, shoes and switching on a small light he opened the door.

Julie-Su stood there quite awake, at first glance she might have been mistaken for someone who had been partially roboticized, but a closer look revealed her metal parts were surgically attached, not at all like the matter-energy system the roboticizer used to turn flesh to steel. Her left arm was almost totally artificial with only a little bit of fur showing at the elbow. Most of her spines where either infinitely jointed pieces of metal or had cybernetic rings wrapped around them with a death grip. Knux didn't know how much cybernetics ran under her skin, but he did know she had obliviously put on her outfit in five seconds. The clothing that covered her torso was a mixed bag, the right side was a black jumpsuit-like material, the left a tough military green cloth covered with pouches and pockets. Knux had never thought to ask what material Julie's' light green boots were made of, but they were of a complex design and made an excellent hiding place for knifes and the like.

"If we're going to have rooms right next to each other, would you mind not bellowing the names of your old girlfriends in your sleep?" the echidna grumbled, rubbing her tired eyes with one hand and holding a bump on her head with the other. Knux suddenly remembered how Julie had installed a low overhead lamp over her bed, and how much of a light sleeper she was, the look on her face confirmed what had happened.

After the destruction of a Legion compound, Knux ran into what seemed to be a straggler from the rest of the fleeing fanatics.

Surprised by the fact his opponent was a woman, he got a dislocated jaw for his troubles, but she didn't finish him off and said she only wished to come with him.

Knuckles had asked why she hadn't run off with the rest of the Legionnaires.

She replied by saying she had been born into the Legion and she had no family in it to speak of, she also felt that they had treated her like dirt, she had been nothing but another number in their ranks.

She said from everything she had heard about him, good or bad, she knew she could trust him. Of course the first thing that had happened to her was being arrested on charges of treason, conspiracy, and attempts at terrorism. Knuckles had pulled all the weight he held as Guardian to get her charges reprieved. Julie's admission into the Chaotix soon followed with mixed feelings. Especially by the crocodile Vector who recognized her as a Legionnaire he had fought before.

The Chaotix, however were as controversial to the Echidnas as Julie was to the Chaotix. The whole bunch of them had been nothing but drifters until Knux had decided to form them into his own band of comrades and each had been grateful for a new purpose in life.

Most said it was tradition for the Guardian to stand alone, but Knuckles had always felt some traditions had out lived their purpose.

Both Knuckles and Julie-Su had been intrigued by the other, and both had ended up saving the other's life several times. It's said as long as it's an accident for both, 'boy meets girl' scenario would always be sure to follow, but Knux and Julie's relationship was far more than that, both developed a deep respect for the other, and while he thought she went to her gun a little too easily and she felt he was crazy fighting cyborgs hand to hand, the two hotheads in fact ended up balancing the other.

Knuckle's birthday two years after meeting Julie-Su had turned in fact into the Guardian's and the former Legionnaire's first official date.

And it had ended appropriately enough with the touching of two lips, and Knuckles caught in bliss. Now Knuckles was considering that it was her fist that he was going to be kissing next.

"I'm sorry Julie, I was having a strange nightmare," Knuckles said, stepping back to a safe distance.

Julie-Su breathed in deeply, eying Knuckles. Knux couldn't tell if she was considering whether or not to pry into what he had dreamed or to drop-kick and kiss him. Finally after what seemed an eternity Julie gave out a frustrated sigh.

"Oh whatever, it's too early, we can finish this in the morning," Julie-Su groused as she turned on a heel back toward her room, rubbing her sore spot.

"I don't think so, I won't be here by then." The Echidna turned her head, the reflection of her old metal Legion implants in the low light added a contrast to the flow of her crystal violet eyes and neon-pink fur and hair that would not of been lost on Knuckles if his mind weren't still reviewing the details of the nightmare in his mind.

"And what do you mean by that?" The ex-Legionnaire said her interest rekindled.

"I'm leaving for Knothole, tonight; if I hurry I'll make it there by mid-morning." Julie-Su looked at him strangely.

"Okay, you get a weird dream and you decide to take off. That makes sense," she said sarcastically.

"It doesn't have to. What I experienced was no dream. I don't know what it was but it was important."

She sighed in exasperation. "Have you been hanging around the emerald chamber too long again?"

"This wasn't a chaos energy induced hallucination, I know what those are like and this was nothing like it."

She rolled her eyes. "Living with you, I've learned to put up with a lot of mystic psycho crap, but it usually comes from that crazy great grandpa of yours."

"And I swallow what Athair says as much as you do, but this is something I can't ignore."

"Alright, tell me what it is you can't ignore." Knuckles laid it all on her, leaving out his dream self's feelings at Sally, something he did not want to discuss with Julie, with her half-awake and already irritated. Then he came to the part about the soot on his face which Julie hadn't seen with the light to Knuckles' back. "-and if you can find one logical and rational reason how it got there then I'll stay. "

Julie-Su tried her best but found none.

"You'll be in charge of the Chaotix until I get back."

She grimaced. "Even if what you dreamed had some meaning, do you really have to go just like that? Beside you know how the Chaotix feel about me."

"Tell them I said so, and to your other question all I can say is for you not to ask me to explain myself, I have my reasons for going 'just like that.'"

"And you expect me to accept that answer?" Julie looked into Knuckle's eyes, she saw him pleading her not to go on, not to dig any deeper for she might not like what she'd find. For once in her life Julie mustered all her self control and swallowed her already planned statement.

"Get out of here before I decide to shoot you in the leg to keep you here," Julie-Su said. Knuckles did exactly that with utmost haste, never being able to tell when Julie was joking and when she was serious when she said something like that.

After exiting the apartment building, Knuckles breathed in the cold, sharp, night air. The empty streets of Echidnatropolis were as silent as a void, its skyscrapers silver monoliths in the nocturnal sky. The great city had not even been touched by the war, mostly because the Echidna's hadn't lifted a finger during Ivo Robotnik's takeover. They had thoroughly convinced themselves that the lunatic was only in interested in Mobius, most Echidnas considered Angel Island a separate (and higher) entity to the rest of the planet.

As far was the dictator was concerned, the Echidnas could wait, there was an entire globe to conquer after all, as tempting as all the technology and resources of the Island were, it was decided to be non-cost effective to invade the Island until his total control of the rest of Mobius was near achieved.

Even the ones who saw that Robotnik was a threat simply hid behind their force fields, their police force, and of course their only true soldier, Knuckles: Guardian to the Master Emerald and the Floating Island.

And so the Echidnas simply waited in their complacency for the mindless feuding on Mobius to end as it always did, like the war that had sparked, burned, and died out between the Mobians and Terrans a few years before the coup. It was during one of Maximilian's trips to the Island that Knuckles and Sally had first met, they had both been bored out of their skulls during the endless fruitless meetings between King Acorn and the Echidna government, and it had been a simple matter for both to run into each other. With nothing to do during the discussions except to talk and play with each other, their friendship quickly grew. Sally came back to the Island on and off with her father to attempt again for aid from the Echidna's but each time it was no use. Then at last Maximilian left Angel Island not to return, and his young daughter with him.

It was several years later when Knuckles had seen her again, and she herself had been on her own mission to beg the Echidnas to help her Freedom Fighters, and that time had almost ended in disaster, the Echidnas had almost been tricked into joining Robotnik's side in a matter too complex to discuss in this context, the plot had been seen through in time, but not before a death-match between Sonic and Knuckles had transpired, incredibly it had ended in a draw. Knuckles had been groomed since birth to survive and fight, Sonic just had a few genetic mistakes running though him and his self-taught combat skills, but still both had found an equal in the other. Though the two had no real reason to fight the other after that, save perhaps their mutual liking for Sally, both at one point in their lives arrogantly considered themselves one of the best, but now they had someone to test their skills on. And a number of misunderstandings later on had ended in similar draws.

Just before leaving the Island Sally had asked Knuckles to join her Freedom Fighters, but Knuckles had declined, saying it was his duty as Guardian to protect the Island. Knuckles had assured her though that he would be there waiting for her when the fight was over and wouldn't change in the meantime. Sally with fire on her breath had replied that was the problem. He hadn't understood what she meant, and still didn't, because not too long after that the Dark Legion had started causing problems again and soon after that had wound up with Julie-Su on his hands, so never had much time to try to puzzle her words out in much depth.

Knuckles was at the edge of the island, the darkness hid the ocean from view but Knux could still hear the turning of the waves miles below him as they crashed into one another. The wind currents combined with his gliding skills would do the job of getting him to land.

Knuckles spread his spines and jumped off the island, catching the wind currents and gliding across the sea. It was a magnificent view, when the sun began its slow upward climb the sea became alight with a million colors splashed across the horizon with a hazy reflection on the clouds, reaching as far as the eye could see. Hours later, when Knuckles could see the line of beach under him and the greatly dense forest beyond, he realized he could only be about two hours from Knothole if the winds kept up and he didn't lose his stamina.

But the moment he was above the strip of beach the winds died suddenly, even worse the air around him became extremely thin, no air meant no lift and from about a mile up he started to fall. He tried to reassume his gliding pose but to no avail, Knuckles knew that the sand would hit like steel at this height, he couldn't believe after all the risks he had taken and the dangers he faced, he was going to die like this. He did not have much time to contemplate for the ground rushed up to meet him in seconds.

He did not hit it as hard as he thought. It hurt all right but there was no splat or bone-smashing crunch. Sand had found its way into Knuckles' mouth and fur when he had hit the beach's surface.

"You're probably wondering why you're not dead: the answer is that

I'm not letting you off that easy." Knuckles looked up and saw the last person in the world he wanted to see.

"No words for your great-grandfather? How rude," Athair said with a smile on his face. He was sitting on a beached log a couple of yards away from Knuckles. The brownish red-haired sage or wizard or whatever he was, appeared as he always did, leaning on his shapeless wooden staff, his red and yellow beaded locks made in no particular pattern flowing in the wind. His body and face were an endless collection of thick wrinkles.

"Yes I have words, but I think it's better not to say them because there might be children listening!" Knuckles snapped. "As much I would enjoy punching your face in, you manipulative old kook, I have to go check on a very dear friend of mine and I don't have the time!"

Athair's face darkened. "Then you will make time young Guardian." Athair clicked his staff on the ground.

Knuckles tried to get up but he found he couldn't move, even his eyes refused to budge, but in his peripheral vision he saw the waves had stopped moving as well, and insects had frozen in mid-flight.

Athair stood up, showing no sign of being hampered by his apparent time freeze, and calmly took his time walking over to Knuckles, his sandals making no impression in the sand. "Now then, we shall talk, with you not worried about the world passing you by in the meantime."

Athair sat down in front of his great grandson and began speaking. "Are you aware of the domain known as Anti-Mobius?" Athair waited, realized he had forgotten something, and hit his staff on the ground again.

Knuckle found that he could use he mouth. He thought for a second and decided to keep his other statements in his mouth. "Yes, Sonic once told me about how once he went there, and met his dark mirror image." The Sonic on that world had been a terrorist and an anarchist instead of a Freedom Fighter, there had been no coup on that world, that world's Ivo Robotnik had been content with science and not world domination, a neglected daughter however of King Maximilian with a taste for malice was another matter. "Then on how he met the same dark counterpart again after chasing him to a universe where Sonic wasn't an only child." After that, Sonic realized that domain's counterparts naturally disliked their sibling, seeing flaws in their twin they did not want to admit seeing in themselves. That world's Sonic had been Sonic's true twin, but they had still been barely able to keep themselves from strangling each other before stopping their dark reflection.

"Sonic is not the only one in that universe with a 'dark counterpart' as you put it. I have discovered to my distaste, that I do also, and so do the Ancient Walkers."

"In my dream, nightmare, those things said they were of the Dark Walkers-" Knuckles sputtered, his mind working faster than his mouth. "Then those monsters I saw must be the dark counterparts of Sonic and-"

"No," Athair said sadly. Knuckles found his mouth frozen again. "The ones in your vision where of this universe, our universe." His smile was gone. "The Sonikku and Two-Tails you saw were of this universe," He repeated. "To your next question of how-" Athair revealed the final attack on Robotropolis, St. John's attempt to drop off Sonic, the dark pact, and the birth of Lightspeed and Tempest.

Knuckles's mouth started to move again. "What about Sally?"

"It is of no consequence of course, but she lives. She is not the reason I tolerate your actions, I sent you my message because the presence of the Dark Walkers and Riahta--that is what my counterpart calls himself--must be stopped here and now before it spreads and-"

"Wait, are you telling me you gave me that dream?" A far more important realization came over the Echidna. "The soot on my face! You put it there just to make sure I would go!" Knuckles began to silently curse Athair and then himself for falling for the ancient's ploy. Could he never escape this old man's grasp? Even when he thought he was spiting him, he was still following his plan. The old man knew which buttons to push, what strings to pull to make the fighter dance. But Knuckles knew he would still go to Knothole even though he knew all this for his friends' sake, but the worst part of it was that Athair knew this as well.

"I made sure of nothing my great grandson, you chose to do this not me, I merely pushed you in the right direction."

"According to you!"

"Tell me young Guardian, would you have acted any differently if you had known about the danger from any other source?" Knuckles bit his tongue. 'Which buttons to push, which strings to pull.' "Now that we have that settled, you should be on your way." Athair raised his staff, then paused and acted as if he had forgotten some minor detail. "One more thing, whatever occurs, do not kill Two-Tails or Sonikku, as hard as it may seem since they will actively try to hurt you. You know full well that you and they form a trinity, one that is essential to Mobius's future." Knuckles grimaced, knowing what Athair meant, their mutual feelings for Sally (muted as they were from his side thanks to Julie, they were still present in one form or another) was only one thing they competed for, their fighting skills, their speed, raw power, will over the emeralds, everything was a match between them. During one of those 'misunderstandings' over a small new collection of chaos emeralds, Knuckles had used their power to his advantage, but to his shock Sonic had, with no training whatsoever, and going completely on instinct, been able to reach what was referred to as a 'chaos form'.

It usually dealt with the changing of fur and eye color and a huge increase in natural talents, as well as being impervious to most physical assaults. A super form wielded so much chaos energy that the aura was visible to the naked eye. But what surprised Knuckles even more was that though the aura and new fur color had vanished once the chaos form had died out, the hedgehog's eyes and some of his quill length had remained the same. Instead of dissipating as wild chaos energy should after a time in a living host, it had remained inside Sonikku. Knuckles didn't understand how this could be, he was a Guardian, Sonic was a semi-regular guy. It shouldn't have happened, but it had. Noticing the look on Athair's face brought Knuckles back to the present. "Don't worry," Knuckles said as any teenager would to an authority figure.

"Good. Now then, you should get going." Athair knocked his staff on the ground again. Knuckles blinked and realized he could move again and time had restarted, the sea rushed into the shore, the bees buzzed, and the old man was nowhere to be seen. A giant updraft picked the echidna into the air along with some sand and began to push him toward Knothole at a speed that might have made Sonic jealous.

…

As Sally came to, her first sensation was the biting cold around her. Many questions entered her mind. Where are Sonic and Miles? I hope they haven't gone off on their own again, it's just like Sonikku to put Miles in danger without thinking about the consequences, I'll have to give them both a strong talking to when I see them next.

Two strangely dressed Mobians, a pig and porcupine, were escorting Sally down a black metal hallway. It was nice of them to carry her since she had obviously fallen asleep on the way here. She soon saw one of her recruits Wombat Stu dressed the same, how embarrassed he would be when Sally told him that she would not tolerate such a ridiculous outfit when he was on duty.

"Is she ready for interrogation?"

"I don't think all of her is here right now."

Wombat Stu took out a small device with two prongs at the end. "Maybe this will find the rest of her."

"Or lose what's left of her; Lightspeed wanted her fully able to answer questions."

"I'm in command here, you be quiet."

"Yes sir."

Wombat Stu took the device and touched it to Sally's temple. The electric charge went through her skull, causing her to screech in pain. Where were mommy and daddy? She hoped they weren't still angry with her about . . . something.

The second shock was to her breast, the third was to her stomach, the final one was a living metal slap across her face. Sally's mind rushed through childhood to the battles with Ivo Robotnik's forces to her one-sided battle with Sonic, to the escape of her brother and father from the enemy.

As the pain came back to Sally full force along with reality, it suddenly got worse as she remembered Tempest and Lightspeed.

Shine nodded, pleased. "She seems to have sobered up. Take her to the interrogation room."

Riahta had planted knowledge of the ship and its lay out in the Order Knight's minds when he had also started whispering in the back of their heads.

"Yes sir," was the instant response.

As she was moved on, Sally knew it would be easier to slip back into the pain, away from reality, but no, Sally kept her mind above the waters of nothingness, she had decided not to abandon Knothole by escaping with her father and brother, she would not abandon it now by escaping from the real world.

…

The room was circular, as was the table with the internal light causing each figure at the table to be cast in shadow; this room was unknown to nearly every person on the Floating Island, even Knuckles.

But debate in the room directly concerned the young Guardian. "So our choices come down to either having the blood line of the Guardianship infected with that of a Mobian . . . or a Legionnaire!" Hawking said through his teeth.

"The Mobian is of no concern; she is, after all, part of that outdated monarchy of theirs. And besides, she's taken. None of them will accept one of our race as husband to their 'princess', they will accept the hedgehog before Knuckles," Thunderhawk replied.

"It would be far more interesting in my opinion, if she was forced to wed that brother of hers!" Sojourner added. Saber was about to say something, then decided to keep his mouth shut.

"That is none of our concern. That leaves only the Legionnaire to deal with," Thunderhawk said.

"Give my son time, I'm sure he will come to his senses and realize that it's not meant to be between him and her." Locke said quietly.

Sojourner glared at him. "You are dreaming! The day he comes to his senses is when this island is at the bottom of the sea!"

"What do you, suggest we do then? Walk up to my son and harshly tell him he can't propose to someone he's in love with?"

"Nothing so moronic. Former Legionnaires so often fall victim to hate crimes. It will be a simple matter to arrange something of the sort. Or-" Sojourner added quickly, seeing the look in Saber and Locke's eyes. "We can simply remind the current Guardian and all those around him of the Legionnaire's true colors."

Specter spat into a waste receptacle at Sojourner's statement. Sojourner clenched his fist and he eyed Specter. Thunderhawk ignored Specter's disapproval. "Then it is a simple matter to us to arrange a 'chance' meeting with Knuckles and a proper consort."

Locke and Saber locked gazes with Thunderhawk, Sojourner and

Hawking.

Specter merely stood up and left the room without a word to anyone. He would not take part in this mindless debate. Yes, the question of the next generation of the Guardianship had to be considered, but there was no way it would be resolved with this method!

Time to rethink strategies, the black Echidna thought, form battle plans, evaluate resources, even if it meant leaving Locke and Saber to the 'wolves' for the moment.

…  
Knuckles rushed across the sky like a crimson bird over the great forest. He knew he was only a few minutes away from Knothole. He saw no rising smoke, didn't catch any stench, but he knew that he would not be able to smell the corpses at this distance with his back to the wind.

He was relieved at first when he saw Knothole in one piece, alive, whole, complete, no signs of his nightmare coming true. His heart then skipped a beat; a huge war machine was perched in the heart of the village, a metal cross between a scorpion and a bird of prey. It was the same ship from his vision.

Knuckles folded his spines against his head and began his decent into Knothole. It was like a ghost town when he landed, not a single soul could be seen and no noise could be heard. Knuckles looked up at the ship and noticed a word engraved in its hull. It wasn't in Terran, and it wasn't Mobian, but in his own Echidnan language. The word was Korack, directly translated it came out as Vengeance.' What a fitting name for such a vicious looking ship.

Knuckles walked unchallenged through the deserted streets right to the Vengeance's hull. Were they that confident that no one is going to fight them? Then he saw one of the things from his nightmare, an Armadillo, come out from one of the buildings. Knuckles quickly hid in one of the metal alcoves that dotted the hull.

The Order Knight stood at the base of the ship for a few seconds, and then the hull opened like the internal valve of a heart to reveal an entrance which the knight walked through. Knuckles, seeing his chance, sprinted for the entrance and jumped through. The hatch closed behind him with a slam, he had cut it so close that he had almost caught his spines in the door.

Knuckles looked at his surroundings in disgust. And he had thought the outside had looked uninviting! The walls reminded him of the insides of a living creature, smoothly flowing together and supported by a visible framework resembling bones. The floor was solid and made of metal but looked like some kind of membrane, an eerie red glow coming from several lights in the ceiling only added to the impression that Knuckles had been consumed by some great beast.

The knight of order ahead of him did not look back, but turned a corner and went out of sight.

It then came to Knuckles that he had no idea where Sally could be in this thing, or even if she was here at all or if she was still even—-no, his great grandfather had no reason to lie about her condition and he had said she was alright, and everything in his nightmare had pointed to her being here. Also, he realized it was obvious that Sally would be a prisoner here. Since this ship was of Echidna design he just needed to figure out where he would place a cell block if he had been the ship's builder. It would be somewhere as far from the vital systems as possible, past engineering, command, weapons…like the exhaust port! 'With the rest of the trash, That would be where they would put prisoners.' He was in one of the legs now, so he just had to navigate past any sentries to the back of the ship. Simple enough.

Yeah, right.

Trusting his own internal compass Knuckles cautiously made his way through the ship. He didn't encounter any more of the creatures from his nightmares, but Knuckles still felt like a non-evolved mouse in an unsprung trap, like this ship was going to come alive any moment and eat him.

Knuckles kept making his way to what he assumed was the back of the ship, and just when he was beginning to think he was completely lost, he heard two pairs of heavy footsteps and something soft being dragged behind them. Making his way to the sound, he saw the pig and porcupine from his vision dragging behind them a barely struggling Princess Sally. Quickly forming a plan, Knuckles came out of hiding and hollered at the two Order Knights.

"Hey you two, turn around!" They did turn, and fired their weapons. Knuckles ducked back in the adjoining corridor, the lasers, quill missiles, and toxic vomit from the knights burning past his fur.

"This is Plutus and Havoc! Intruder alert! All Order Knights to cell area 7-8 level three," said the pig, the ship conveying his message to the rest of the Dark Knights.

The porcupine turned to the pig. "You stay with her, I'll deal with him." Havoc went in pursuit of her target, weapons and blades ready. It was simple for Knuckles to avoid the enemy whose name was Havoc, although she knew the ship better than Knuckles, Knuckles' name sake digging into the corridor's ceiling provided an excellent hiding place from the porcupine.

Plutus put Sally's hands behind her back, almost forcing the broken bones in her hand to be dislocated again. As soon as Havoc was out of sight, Plutus turned his attention to the young squirrel. So young, so pure, such a lovely body, it was a shame to waste it. Plutus was so deep in his own sick and greedy thoughts that he didn't notice a red blur come up behind him and slam both spiked fists together in the back of his head. A loud clang was heard down the hallway as fist and organic steel impacted.

The pig turned, something had hit him in the back of the head, and he could see it was the Echidna. Plutus thrusted his huge arm at Knuckles with massive strength, punching a hole in the living metal wall where Knuckles' head had been a second before.

Knuckles was lucky enough that Plutus realized he would damage himself if he used his weapons at close range. Knuckles jumped above the beast and landed on his shoulders, then jumped off and kicked him again and again in the back. Plutus fell, losing his balance. Seeing his opponent was down, Knuckles quickly went over to Sally. "Can you walk?"

For a moment Sally thought she may still be hallucinating when she saw Knuckles over her. "Yes, I think so." Thankfully the world had stopped spinning and she could keep her balance.

"Good, then let's get out of here." The two quickly moved back the other way down the hall as Plutus got back to his feet and started pursuing them. Sally looked behind her and gasped

"Knuckles behind you!" Knuckles didn't get a chance to turn, he felt something cold and sharp pierce his back.

Havoc removed her arm blades from Knuckles' backside. Then Plutus smashed his fist into the wound. Knuckles fell with a thud, blood pouring from the injury. Sally then saw two more bio-mechanics at the end of the hall coming towards her. Looking behind her she saw Shine and Monkshood besides him coming up behind Havoc and Anark. Wombat Stu/Shine walked past Sally to tower over Knuckles. The Guardian tried to get up but Shine brought his armored boot down hard on the Echidna's back, slamming him back to the ground. Knuckles cried out in pain, realizing with horror his back had been broken.

Shine snorted in disgust. "This is the one Lightspeed hated so much? Wasn't even worth the effort. Come along princess, we have a few questions we would like to ask you. And don't try anything more, in your shape I'd hate to think what could happen to you."

Havoc grasped Sally's arms from behind far harder than she needed to. Shine kicked Knuckles once more for good measure and left him to die a slow death. The Order Knights walked away, their backs turned to their obviously doomed enemy. Knuckles' vision was fading as he lay there, and it seemed to be getting colder. Soon he could only feel the injury in his back and little else. As his vision faded to blackness all he could see was Sally being dragged away by these living metal monsters, to a fate best left unknown. And then, out of the blue, he had a vision of a red Chaos Emerald shattering. And suddenly Knuckles could feel something else. It was an emotion. It was anger.

Not an anger of envy or revenge like what drove St. John or Lightspeed, it was an anger of the righteous. He could feel it bubble up within him, raising his body temperature to beyond its normal limits. He clenched his teeth.

His vision became as clear as crystal. The pain seemed to melt away. Knuckles felt every individual cell in his body from head to toe being revitalized with a new life. Through it all Knuckles could only think one thought: 'I won't let them get away with this!'

'Strange,' Shine thought, 'is it getting hotter?' No, the temperature was the same, but he couldn't help but think something was wrong, this was lost on him however as the whole ship was starting to shake.

Looking behind her Sally saw Knuckles do the impossible and stand on his own two feet, his injuries gone. The shaking and heat were coming from him, Sally realized. The Echidna's teeth and fists were closed like vices. The look on Knuckles' face made Plutus take a step back.

Knuckles breathed raggedly through his nose, every one of his muscles tight.

The Guardian of the Floating Island then let out a cry that seemed to reach to the heavens and beyond. Knuckles' burst into flames in a flash as his body turned neon pink, and the shaking stopped.

Sally realized what was happening, she had been a late bystander to that particular fight, but it had never been like this, not for Sonic, Tails, and not for Knuckles, and never without the emeralds, it was impossible. But the impossible had a way of happening, especially recently.

The Echidna stood before them, his spines had grown longer and a flaming red aura surrounded his body, while he himself glowed from within. This was not the chaos form Knuckles had when he had fought Sonic or any other transformation that had ever occurred before, this new emerald energy induced form was nameless.

"Get away from her!!!" Knuckles boomed. Shine growled and rushed at his enemy, determined to impale the fighter on his giant sword, forsaking the ship's and his own safely. Knuckles caught it in his hands and twisted, causing it to shatter and send Shine reeling in surprise. Knuckles didn't give the 'warrior' a chance to recover, he slammed his spiked fist into the gold knight, knocking him back into the other Dark Knights with a large dent in his chest armor.

"Kill him! Kill him!" The bio-mechanical screamed.

All six Order Knights charged at the Guardian. Havoc dropped Sally so that she could fight without being inconvenienced by the useless princess's weight.

Knuckles roared angrily and charged at the approaching knights, smashing through their line and sending them flying like bowling pins struck by a wrecking ball. Stopping in his tracks, he gently picked up Sally in one fast swoop raced down the ship hallways, avoiding the laser blasts, quill missiles, spell bursts, shuriken, bombs, and myriad other projectiles with split-second reflexes Sonic would have been proud of.

Sally had been afraid that she would be burned when Knuckles picked her up, but the air around him was only a few degrees warmer than the rest of the ship. Cradled safely in his arms and going at such a fast pace, Sally didn't blame herself for thinking she saw Sonic's face instead of Knuckles' for a split second. She then realized how much she still hoped for the hedgehog's rescue and Miles' even more. Something else then hit her like a ton of bricks.

"How are we going to get out? All the ways out of this thing must be blocked!"

Knuckles smirked, looking oddly like Sonic as he did so. "Then we'll make our own exit!" Sally knew at once what he meant. Sonic would have done the same thing. Running at a speed that the blue hedgehog would grudgingly acknowledge as 'not bad' Knuckles backtracked though the mental map he had made while wandering though the massive ship until he was were he wanted to be.

"We're at the outer wall. Hold on tight!" Sally did not need to be told that! Continuing his high-speed dash while keeping Sally in his arms, Knuckles slammed fist-first into the wall, causing it to give way like soggy cardboard. Landing just long enough to put her down he jumped back into the sky as all the Order Knights leaped out through the hole in the hull to do battle with this reborn foe, murder and vengeance on their minds. They attacked in full fury and power, and Knuckles repelled their attacks and returned them ten fold.

…

The two had been away searching the village for Max and Elias, seeing that the other Order Knights had been incapable of the task. At the sound of the battle however, Lightspeed and Tempest quickly hurried back to the Vengeance, only to find a gaping hole in its hull and the Order Knights engaged in pitched battle. Lightspeed saw Sally free and not making any attempt to hide herself, and then the two bio-mechanicals noticed something even more surprising than this: all of the Order Knights seemed to be fighting only one individual. This fighter blocked each attack with seeming ease, and returned them likewise with powerful punches and kicks. But through the haze of battle the fighter seemed completely calm, moving so fast that Lightspeed could not make out the enemy's face or race due to the Order Knights blocking their view and the dust of combat.

Then, suddenly the fighting stopped. As the dust cleared, the Order Knights seemed to have the foe surrounded. But then each of them, as if on cue, fell to their knees then on their faces with cracks and deep scorch marks on their living metal bodies.

Except for slow breathing, the fighter stood as still as a statue, and his appearance and identity was now all too clear for Lightspeed.

There he stood, Knuckles, Guardian to the Floating Island, like a mountain unmoving and unshakable. The Guardian also appeared to be the current embodiment of fire! His whole body seemed engulfed in flame, but he was not consumed in it, and neither was the grass on which he stood. His spines were over a third their normal length, and his form was glowing from within.

Lightspeed did not care how this mere anteater could defeat the power of the Order Knights; he only cared about ending Knuckles' dirty little life.

Knuckles looked down at the defeated bio-mechanicals at his feet, who had once been Freedom Fighters. Then he look at the things from his dream that he knew had once been his on and off rival alongside what was left of his great-grandfather's 'chosen one'.

During a battle in which Sonic and Knuckles had fought side by side against a madman who had centuries ago used the power of the emeralds to make himself ageless and had for reasons of his own chosen now to emerge, Sonic and Knuckles had been pushed towards their limits and were unable to defeat their foe. That was when Tails, who had been missing for days, appeared on the scene in a chaos form of his own, and had single-handedly defeated the lunatic.

That was when Athair showed up and revealed it was he who had given Tails his first taste of the emeralds' power. He said he had sensed great power in the boy. Sonic was actually impressed with what Tails had done, unlike Knuckles who was again startled to learn of another non-Echidna who could use the emeralds without training, but even more shocking was that Tails, a child, had for a short time surpassed him. But for some reason, Knuckles didn't feel the same sense of insult that he had when Sonic had transformed, he had been inspired to train harder of course, but not for the sake of belittling Tails.

Even at this distance Knuckles could see the burning hatred in their cold eyes. He looked at Sally, getting a good look at her for the first time. She was bashed, beaten, and cut, in body and soul, but not broken, thank goodness.

The three combatants for a moment simply looked at each other, each preparing themselves for the inevitable. Knuckles turned his head to the female squirrel. "Sally, listen carefully, get as far away as you can and take cover, this is going to get ugly fast." He turned to face his opponents.

"I'm not running away again!" she protested angrily. "I'm sick of it-"

"This isn't open for debate Princess! Get moving while you still can!" Sally was taken aback; this had to be the first time in all their lives that Knuckles had called her Princess. Staying a few seconds longer, she turned and ran as fast as her injuries allowed.

"What makes you think you're going anywhere?" Lightspeed asked as he aimed his living shoulder canon at one of Sally's legs. He didn't hesitate for even a moment at shooting the woman he loved. He fired.

Knuckles was at Sally's back in a wink of an eye. He knocked the blast off course as he would an insect. The laser fizzled harmlessly against the Vengeance's hull. Knuckles sensed the weapon had been set to a minimum of its real power, meant to immobilize Sally, not kill her. Did this mean some part of Sonic was still alive? But Knuckles saw no proof of that in the face of Lightspeed or Tempest.

He glanced over his shoulder, Sally was just standing there.

"Move!" Sally obeyed without hesitation. Knuckles readied himself to a fighting stance. The pair of bio-mechanicals spread out, Knuckles keeping his eyes on both. He looked at Lightspeed as the hedgehog circled. "Come on, let's do it while I'm still young, and before you two rust."

"Shut up!" The hedgehog thing spat out. The two leaped at him.

Amazing was all that crossed Knuckles' mind, even for Sonic the speed of these two monsters was simply incredible, the other Knights had been clumsy and overeager in their attacks, these two were far more dangerous, their assaults were swift, clean, and precise. He then realized he might as well have been using alleyway tactics in an open area. Knuckles could only hope Sally had made enough ground in time. Knuckles leaped up a distance that left the bio-mechanicals stunned. Knuckles cupped his hands and bellowed at the top of his lungs as a blast of energy fueled by his chaos form shot from his body and rained down on top of the two enemies.

Lightspeed fired his shoulder blaster full force at the Echidna. The two beams slammed into each other, neither gaining ground. But Lightspeed's beam was endless and Knuckles' seem to be weakening. The deadly beam forcefully made its way to its target. In another unexpected move however, Knuckles channeled his beam's power into a force around his fists and slammed right through Lightspeed's beam and drove all the way down into the hedgehog's shoulder cannon.

With a scream and the tear of living metal and blood the weapon was separated from its user then exploded. Knuckles landed a few yards away, assuming a pose fitting an athlete who had just won the gold medal at the Olympic gymnastics. The fighter turned to face his enemies.

"I am going to enjoy killing you. I did it too quickly with St. John; I won't make that mistake again!" Lightspeed hissed, clutching the bloody gaping hole in his armor.

"Lightspeed, let me fight him, I know I can finish him," Tempest said, for the first time showing emotion in his eagerness to prove his worth.

"No! I want the pleasure, I want the satisfaction."

Knuckles shook his head in disgust. "You disgust me! How can you say you love someone like Sally and take pleasure in the death of another? What happened to you Sonic?"

"She betrayed me, just like that sewer rat St. John, but you'd be the expert on abandonment! "Lightspeed said.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me Echidna, abandonment is your specialty. You've helped us out every time we've been to your island, but always refused to help us fight Robotnik on the mainland. You abandoned Sally to the possibility of getting roboticized if, one day, something were to happen to me! I thought you and her were supposed to be big friends, Knux. Why didn't you ever help us out more?"

"It wasn't my choice," Knuckles protested. "As Guardian I had to protect the island. It wasn't my fault she couldn't stay up there where it was safe." For a moment, for a precious moment, the natural smirk of Sonic Hedgehog could be seen on Lightspeed's face.

But just a moment.

"So you'd rather protect a flying piece of dirt with a few glowing gems in it then try and help save the world, huh?"

"It was the wish of my father!" Knuckles said angrily.

"Who's . . . dead, let me spell it out for you D-E-A-D! You've honored the will of a corpse over your own feelings! I now know why you really protect that floating rock. It's because if you stop, then you would have to admit he's not going to come out and lecture you," Lightspeed chuckled. Knuckles struggled to control himself, and to keep the seed of doubt from taking root in his mind. Lightspeed then looked like he had just received a message from somewhere.

"Tell me, if I were to tell you right now, that we had Sally in our hands, what would do you if she was timed to die at the same time an attack force will reach the island and their orders are only to find and kill that Legion refugee girl of your."

"Julie! You son of a-"

"Don't waste your breath. We don't have Sally or a force on its way to the floating island…not yet, anyway. Really Knux, you are so easy to manipulate. But you've just made my point, it wasn't Sally's life you were concerned about, it was that Legion girl who seemed to be trying to kill you when you first met. That says a lot about your so-called loyalty. You and Sally really are kindred spirits, you probably have had as many flames as her, but maybe

I'm being too harsh. Keeping up with her record would be quite a feat!"

Won't listen, can't listen. Knuckles charged at the enemies, who fired their waiting weapons. 'Simply strategy,' Lightspeed thought. 'Provoke someone enough so they go into blind rage, and they are lambs for the slaughter.' The energy pulses from Tempest would have hit their marks, but suddenly Knuckles was no longer there.

"Where'd he go!!?" Lightspeed bellowed. Tempest turned around with the ultimate look of surprise on his face.

"Behind!" He got out before Knuckles kicked him so hard he bounced when he hit the ground.

"A Teleport?"

"No, it was pure speed," Tempest spat as he got up instantly into a fighting pose.

"Impossible, my eyes didn't track it!"

"Guess you're new form isn't all it's cracked up to be, huh, Sonic? You'd never have fallen for that trick before." In fact, it had been Knuckles who had often fallen for it.

"The name's Lightspeed!" Knuckles never saw it coming. A slam to the stomach, a hit to the head, a blast to the chest that his aura for the most part absorbed but enough remained to send Knuckles backwards.

The attacks went on and on as Tempest joined the assault.

It seemed as if Knuckles' newfound power might not be enough after all to defeat his former friends…

Is my story that bad?

I welcome flames, comments, and the occasional constructive criticism. And thanks ro Ri2 for editing this chapter. He tried to alter the dream's sequence to Knux being invited to Sonic and Sal's wedding opposed to Sally's engagement being canceled, but this damaged the feelings Knuckles has for Sally that ironically Sonic and Knux never went to blows over in the comic even though they came to blow over everything else. He also wanted the Order Knights to kill a number of nameless FF's at their force entrance at the celebration but that felt too much like death for death's sake.


	4. Reflections

Chapter 4

"Don't waste your breath. We don't have Sally or a force on its way to the floating island. Really Knux, you are so easy to manipulate. But you've just made my point; it wasn't Sally's life you were concerned about, it was that Legion girl who seemed to be trying to kill you when you first met. That says a lot about your so-called loyalty. You and Sally really are kindred spirits, you probably have had as many flames as her, but maybe I'm being too harsh. Keeping up with her record would be quite a feat!" Riahta said eerily as he sat crouched in a yoga position, deep in meditative focus.

His coal-black staff stood a couple of feet away from him with no support save the threads of darkness wrapped around it. The echidna's eyes were open but they did not see the staff in front of him. It was so simple to whisper what to say in Lightspeed's mind, to suggest the correct course of action.

It was obvious that there was a chance Knuckles Son of Locke might be able to defeat Riahta's appendages, Knuckles had already serious injured most of the Order Knights, but thankfully Tempest and Lightspeed were stronger than the rest of the Knights put together. But there was still a chance, and Riahta did not like chances, they were not orderly.

So he had entered Lightspeed's mind, pushing him in the correct course of action, and giving him that entire wonderful dialog to knock Knuckles mentally off balance. Now it had worked, Knuckles was now charging Lightspeed, and Lightspeed needed only minimal suggestion to shoot.

_Sorcerer!_ A voice that was one yet three stabbed though the aged Echidna's mind, shattering his concentration and mental link with Lightspeed, leaving his pawn to its fate.

Riahta's eyes were now very much looking at the staff with both attention and fear. Instead of there being just the serpent head, the figure on the staff's carved top was now joined with that of a wolf and a bat. But this lasted only a moment as the images shifted to that of spiders, scorpions, squid, cobras, horned humanoids and other fear inspiring shapes, and yet they remained exactly the same, despite the fact that they were constantly shifting. The images would freeze even the bravest souls, and yet one could feel distance between themselves and the three things before them, like a huge beast across a chasm, bloodcurdling to say the least, but safely far away. Riahta felt no such comfort, for these beasts held a very tight collar and rope around his neck that went across that chasm, all they needed to do was pull ever so slightly, and he would fall into the void below.

These were his Masters, the Dark Walkers of Anti-Mobius.

The dark threads wrapped themselves loosely around Riahta, his fear building in the presence of his Master(s), as distant as they were. Riahta felt each piece of black mist coil around him like vipers ready to strike, if they so wished it, his Masters could have these threads break his neck in an instant. As if they would actually be that merciful.

The mask of wisdom and superiority Riahta wore was pulled away, revealing a husk of a man, his eyes not daring to take their gaze off the faces before him that were not there.

_Why are you playing these games!?_ Riahta had learned to keep quite when his Masters spoke even when they asked a question, for often they did not want an answer, only an outlet for their frustrations.

The voices spoke slightly out of sync, the only reminder that they were three separate entities. They were like echoes from some deep dark pit, but they changed blood to water all the same. Even after having served them for so terribly long, Riahta's fur still stood on end when listening to these voices.

_You have acquired the forces needed to achieve the target. What are you still doing here!? Too much rides on this mission for us to tolerate your incompetence, we have manipulated too many mortals, used too many resources, for it to fail due to your foolishness!...ANSWER OUR QUESTION!_

"I-I, I felt that if I instilled these wants for vengeance in them and then humored them that I would mentally prepare them for our assault on Angel Island since they would then feel total loyalty to me and to you, for the actions I had performed for them."

_There is no need to win their trust or loyalty! You should have erased their minds and used their bodies for the creation of the weapons only. Weapons do not need to or should be able to think!_

"Please Master(s); I cannot control that many empty shells at once, with their minds intact and under my control I can conserve my power for the task of the Master Emerald."

_So you are playing these games with them because you are too weak to direct the actions of a few weapons? Do not lie to us Riahta, we know you have more power than that! You are to leave at once with the weapons to begin the next step of the Merger immediately!!_

"But Master(s) I think-" The threads of darkness wrapped around his nerves sending pain though every cell in his body. Riahta could not breath, he thought his heart had stopped, he knew he was going to die, and then his Masters would give him far greater torment in the next world. Then it stopped as it always did, Riahta remembering how to breathe, knowing that he had been given the equivalent of a slap on the wrist from his Masters.

_Do you think we cannot see right through you? We are the Dark Walkers, we have existed since the second dawn of this world, we know all the dark secrets of this universe! Your existence has been but a spark in the span of time; do not dare to presume that you can deceive us! We know that you have only dallied in the hopes of drawing out this world's Island Guardian to take out your grudge on the one of our world on him. Just because he is this world's Knuckles does not mean he is the same as your true great-grandson, so do not bother wasting your limited time and powers on such a petty thing as revenge! Do as you are told and leave for Angel Island at once!_

"Yes . . .Master(s)." Riahta whispered, too joyous that he was still alive to feel foolish at himself for thinking he could hide his desire to pay back that loathsome great-grandson of his, no matter which world he was in.

_We have worked long and hard to gain access to the Slave Emerald's power, and the power it has expelled to send you to this place cannot be regained. Do not prove that we have been mistaken in giving you the power that you wield. If you fail in this task you will never burden us with your incompetence again. Do, Not, Fail!_

Faster than it took Riahta to blink they were gone, or had they ever been there to begin with? The coal-black snake staff was alone and but a staff again.

Riahta regained his composure, his mind racing. He had been too indulgent; with the presence of his Master(s) so far away he had allowed himself to fall into his own complacency and petty thoughts of vengeance.

Reconnecting the link with Lightspeed, he found Knuckles had gained the advantage and was also reaching a part of Sonikku's mind Riahta had not noticed before, which by all means should of been an impossibility.

He did a quick run of Lightspeed's memories of the last few moments and reasserted himself.

"It's Lightspeed now!" Riahta said, though it was Lightspeed who spoke the words. Sensing Lightspeed and Tempest regain the advantage for the moment, Riahta knew he had to end the battle quickly; the impatience of his Masters was not to be doubted. Breaking his mental link with Lightspeed to keep his own thoughts clear for the teleport, Riahta spoke a dark word and was gone from the dark empty circular room.

…

It was strange, Knuckles had gotten past angry, past the heat of battle, it was almost like a dance now. Block, punch, kick, duck, uppercut, block. Only in this dance, a misstep equaled death. The two living metal fighters came at him with full force and speed, and Knuckles returned it. To an outsider it would look like chaos, but to the participants of the fight, each move was swift and precise, calculated and planned perfectly. He was almost enjoying himself…and wondered if his foes felt this way themselves as they continued the dance.

…

Amy awoke to a cramp in her neck. Where was she? She felt the soft leather and the touch of cool metal about her and realized she was in the back seat of the Tornado. How had she gotten here?

She remembered Sonic and Tails, and knew she was about to start crying again. She had fallen asleep right in the gunman's seat of the techno biplane, she was surprised no one had found her; she guessed the Tornado wasn't exactly in the most prominent spot in the hanger. Besides, after getting the Special back in, what was the point of anyone coming in here? Robotnik was dead. The war was over.

That was when she heard the laser fire.

…

The two enemy fighters threw their punches at once, each to one side of the Echidna's head. Knuckles ducked below each and slammed his fists into their guts. As they lurched back half a step before trying to know his feet out from under him, a realization struck the Guardian like a bolt of lightning. This was not Sonic or Tails' fighting style.

Knuckles had fought besides and against each of them enough times for him to begin to recognize certain aspects of their individual fighting skills. Tails was one to always wear down an opponent and keep them constantly off-balance and attacking only when he knew he would score a hit, often taunting and baiting an enemy into acting foolish (a trick picked up from Sonic). Sonic was direct with his assaults, the fact that he had no strategy in and of itself was actually its own strategy since it made him impossible to predict during a fight, Sonic was reckless but not blind in his strikes and was willing to take a hit if it meant he could return it. Together Sonic and Tails were like a duet in the dance of combat: Tails frustrating and wearing down the enemy, while Sonic didn't give them room to breathe.

With these two enemies it was different, their styles were exactly alike, and their moves were synchronized like perfect timepieces. This did give Knuckles a slight advantage in that he didn't need to watch both, apparently whoever had 'reprogrammed' Sonic and Tails was far from original or inspiring in the art of hand to hand combat. And it gave Knuckles an edge. Not a great one, but in any fight you take what you can get.

Now Knuckles had a strategy to use, for he had seen through the one used by his opponents. Now the dance had rhythm, the blows drums, the yells of exertion vocals, and all there was, was the battle at hand, there was nothing else in Knuckles' universe.

Knuckles didn't notice when Riahta blinked into existence on top of the hull of the Vengeance, or in his native tongue Korack.

Riahta looked with impatience, this was not how it was supposed to be. The Guardian should have been dead by now. Riahta hated to waste precious power, but he wanted the Echidna dead, and he wanted it now, in spite of what his master(s) had said about not wasting his time with petty vengeance.

Riahta brought two fingers upwards to his face and began to whisper silent words. The threads of darkness began to take shape as they formed around him and condensed into a swirling ball a few inches away from his mid section. A small bit of emerald light began to form at the thread's center as Riahta called forth the energy within himself.

His eyes went into the back of his head, focusing on the mental images of Lightspeed and Tempest.

Jerking his head forward, the light vanished.

Knuckles' eyes grew wide for a moment as Tempest and Lightspeed turned bright gold. It was the color that came from when the Emerald's power ignited inside either of them. Knuckles however didn't have time to think about this as he found himself flying backward from a punch he hadn't even seen coming. Then came a hard hit to the back, that Knuckles knew came from his enemy even though he had been in front of him a moment ago. Knuckles countered with a high kick that was caught easily and brought him down onto the ground. Then he felt the metal boots slamming into his back, the power of the emeralds being the only thing keeping his back from once again breaking in two. Knuckles tried to get up, but the force of the pressing metal boot kept him down. He was about to try to knock his opponent off-balance by smashing the ground beneath him and throwing his body off-center, but he then received a physical blow to the back. It didn't really hurt; it just forced him back down. Whatever had happened to his two enemies' moments before had drastically increased their fighting power.

_GET GOING!!!_ So great was his Master(s) impatience, so great was their desire for stage two to begin, that for a moment, their voice was able to penetrate the void between worlds, and reach Riahta outside his meditation. He needed no other words to realize how incredibly close to the edge he was to feeling their wraith.

Knuckles felt the rain of hard punches on his back, it didn't break, but he wished it would to stop the pain as the blows got hard enough to inflict damage on his chaos energy-filled body (considering that missile fire was little more than a strong push when one was in "super form", the blows from the Knights were incredibly strong), then his dreads were grabbed by their ends and his face was slammed down into the ground, his face making an impression in the dirt.

"Come!" Commanded Riahta. He hastily conjured dark threads and used them to drag the defeated Order Knights into the Vengeance's opening cargo hold of its belly.

Lightspeed was confused as conflicting messages came though his brain. He looked at Riahta in bewilderment, and then turned to finish off Knuckles, and then felt a mental ring around his neck pulling him away from his still breathing foe. "But he's still alive-"

"Come!" Ordered Riahta, his impatience reflecting his Masters', his desire to quell their anger setting him near panic, but of course none of that showed on his face. Riahta's face was set like stone, displaying only cold impulsiveness.

"Let me finish-" Started Lightspeed.

"I gave you an order and you will follow it!" Riahta hissed, if he hadn't been so overwhelmed by the fear of his Masters, he would have seen the logic of Lightspeed's position and enjoyed watching the hedgehog carry it out, but in his current state, all he knew what that his Masters wanted phase two to begin, and for it to begin now.

Not even making one final blow to Knuckles, Lightspeed and Tempest entered the Vengeance as Riahta vanished from sight. The two bio-machines suddenly felt exhausted as the energy rush Riahta had artificially given them wore off.

A dust cloud formed as the gravitational forces driving the vessel took hold and launched it to the air, producing only a dull hum that one had to pay attention to actually hear. The techno-skeletal cross between scorpion and bird of prey twisted and bent into the air as its wings spread, not for lift but better control while its multiple legs retracted into the main body. Shifted into its flying shape, the Vengeance flew over the huts of Knothole, taking its great shadow with it. Gaining speed as it moved, its engine noise still nothing but an almost inaudible hum, the ship moved away from the base/village, and in less than a minute was only a mark on the horizon.

Sally saw the mighty machine fly over her. She hadn't gone far; far enough to get out of what she hoped was the firing range of Sonic and Miles' weapons, but close enough to still observe the battle unseen. And what she had seen would have caused her to faint if she hadn't seen the same level of bloody conflict for most of her life just about every day. Contrary to what some of those detached from the fighting thought, Robotnik's machines did not use stun weapons to capture creatures for the Roboticizer. They had been programmed how to make crippling wounds along with lethal ones. The Roboticizer's original design had been that of a medical tool. It repaired any critical injury save death during its flesh-to-steel process.

That was why the mentally ill or disturbed who were captured by Robotnik's machines were never mechanized, it would actually correct those who's mental instability was of a physical nature and somehow result in the subject keeping their free will. They were simply killed. Anything or anyone Robotnik could not control, he had gotten rid of.

Sally hated times like this, fights where the power of the emeralds was a factor, a time when she was helpless to do anything. All she could ever do was watch and wait for the outcome.

Cursing her injuries, Sally shuffled over to the beaten Guardian, all the forced moving around had not helped them heal. Sally clenched her teeth in pain. "Knuckles?" She asked, not sure if he was conscious or not.

Knuckles let out a moan. "Tell the guy stealing my jackhammer technique to cut it out!" He hissed. With a breath of exhaustion,

Knuckles' aura faded as his fur returned to its true color and his spines shrunk back before Sally's eyes. Sally knew almost nothing about Chaos Power, except it worked, barely. Sally had seen Sonic transform himself more than once, but she had seen the aftereffects each time. Exhaustion and total lack of concentration up to twenty four hours after using the power of the emeralds had plagued Sonic each time he had used them. Sally often wondered what would happen if Sonic used the emeralds for too long.

It gave her even more pain, but she helped the Guardian to his feet. She would have asked him if he was okay, but her experience in warfare had taught her not to ask stupid questions, and plus, she had never known a male, (except maybe her brother) who ever verbally admitted weakness at a time like this.

As usual, the Son of Locke had no time to feel pain, all he knew was that the enemy had withdrawn for some unknown purpose, (true, them staying a second longer would have gotten himself kill but that was besides the point)leaving him no clue as to where they had gone. "Dammit. I wish I knew where they were going." Though Knuckles couldn't explain how, he knew that whatever it was that dark brown Echidna (was that Riahta, the opposite his great grandfather had told him about?) had done to Sonic and Tails, had turned the chance of himself getting killed by them from possible to likely. Knuckles did notice however, even the brief time they fought, that the strength of the blows was decreasing rapidly.

Maybe if they did that trick again he could draw out the fight, allowing their adrenaline burst or whatever to burn itself out, if he lasted that long.

"Come on, let's have our doctor have a look at you," she said. What came next was so predicable Sally could have been a fortuneteller.

"No, I'm just fine, it's okay." As a Guardian, Knuckles had been taught how to handle pain. That didn't make it any less real though and Sally saw him grinding his teeth.

"I've heard that lie from Sonic too many times to buy it from you, now come on," she replied sternly, and then remembered neither of them was in the best of shape from the last couple of hours and she was no position to force him to do anything.

…

"Mother Mobius . . . what happened?" 'Isn't anyone in sight anymore when they announced their presence?' Sally thought.

Amy looked agape at what she saw. Laser burns covered the ground, and a huge indentation was in the dirt of the central square. It looked like someone had fought a war here. This was put aside in her mind however, when she saw Sally and the red Echidna she recognized as Guardian Knuckles (or Knucklehead as Sonic called him behind his back). Both had been though a beating and Knuckles didn't look like he was going anywhere.

Sally noticed her at last and spoke to her in a voice devoid of her 'fearless leader' persona. "Amy? . . . Where have you been?" It sounded like Sally had thought something terrible had happened to the hedgehog girl.

Amy realized the way she had acted last night people would have thought she might have killed herself. Amy felt a strange sense of comfort that Sally would actually show her concern.

"I . . . I was in the Tornado, but what happened? Did we get attacked? By who?"

Sally sighed. "I'll tell you later. Help me get Knuckles to Quack's."

Still confused and feeling like she had been dropped into the middle of something (that was the story of her life) Amy helped the protesting Echidna to his feet as the frightened citizens of Knothole slowly started coming out of their houses to see if the horrifying invaders had truly departed.

Amy wasn't as physically weak as some people in Knothole thought. She had not spent months practicing with an old-school cross bow and her expando-hammer for nothing. After Amy's relationship with Tails had bloomed, she and Sally had been on much more friendly terms. Amy no longer looked at Sally with spite or envy but the way a girl would at the mother of her boy friend, which, everyone in Knothole knew, Sally pretty much was, though Max would never allow her to adopt Tails in a million years. Documents didn't matter, it was how they felt that was important, and it was clear how they felt indeed. It seemed Max couldn't stand any of Sally's relationships, despite her romantic interest in Sonic, (Sonikku had told Amy once that Sonic was what his friends called him, Amy was glad it was Amy's honor to call him that once again) the dethroned monarch refused to accept what was clearly in front of his eyes. Amy would never understand how old men thought.

…

"Incredible. From what you've told me by all respects you should be dead," said Quack, looking Knuckles over.

Believe me, that's how I feel, thought the Echidna. Like all huts in Knothole, Dr. Quack's medical hut was more impressive on the inside than on the outside. Quack prided himself on keeping his place of profession clean and sterile for his patients. While the building was of modest size, one could not help but be impressed by how much the doctor could fit in here, bunked medical beds, (Quack was constantly demanding more room be built for them, believing that bunking sick and hurt patients so close together was not the wisest of medical decisions) his medicines and equipment covering the walls, the only piece of slight decoration was the plush green carpet on the front door, (he had a secondary double door for when they started piling in the injured.)

The place was filled with the survivors of the assassination of Robotnik, all either sleeping from sedatives or filled up with pain killers which never seemed to be potent enough.

Thankfully the Knights had left Quack and his patients alone in their short occupation, one doctor and a room full of half-dead soldiers was not considered a threat. Quack himself was a normal yellow-feathered blue-eyed duck in a medical coat with an unassuming face and beak. He had passed his final year at medical school just before Ivo Robotnik's takeover began and had been celebrating in the country and as such was spared being a witness to the mad man's coup and the fake of his wife and MANY sons.

Sally had been bandaged up with the skill and precision the doctor was known for. Knuckles surprisingly only had several very large bruises. Considering that that his back had been broken and he had been stabbed just before entering his super form, it was very impressive.

"What do you mean he should be dead?" Asked Amy, she and Tails had always been the first to ask questions.

Quack looked at the teenage girl. "I don't pretend to know how the energy of the chaos emeralds works, and I'm not sure I want to know. But I've seen what it's done to Sonikku and Miles on many occasions. And I have to say that from what Sally's described and from what I saw during the part of the fight that was in the air that day with Mongul. . .the body is pushed to its limit when channeling those emeralds, and as any other doctor will tell you too, you can't go at full tilt indefinitely."

"But he didn't have any emeralds," said Amy. All she had pieced together so far was that Knuckles had been in a fight using chaos energy, and that he had been almost dead when he had somehow gone super without any of the emeralds. She still didn't even know who Knuckles had been fighting in the first place; she just kept hearing names like Lightspeed and Tempest being thrown about, with no idea what they meant. She would know soon enough, though…

"Like I said, I don't know how these emeralds work, maybe he's been building up a residue of it after all the times he's spent near them or using them, of course . . . wouldn't you know more about that?" Quack asked Knuckles.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the power of the emeralds with a Mobian," the echidna said gruffly.

"Charming," replied the doctor flatly.

Knuckles sighed. "Sorry, but right now I just want to know where that ship is headed."

"I think I can help with that," said Sally as she reached down and undid the pocket on her boot that held her palm top. "Nicole," she said, flipping the computer open.

"Yes Sally?" The computer replied in its monotone female voice.

"Connect to the radar station and access records up to an hour ago and give speed and direction of the airborne vessel that left from Knothole."

"Yes Sally," the computer hummed as it made a radio connection with Knothole's air lookout system. Sally hoped their operator Rotor Walrus had forgotten to turn them off following Robotnik's death. "Connection made," the machine said. Sally made a sigh of relief. This made things easier. After sounds of clicking and electronic humming of the circuitry working the computer gave out the speed and direction of the Knight's ship. Sally did some mental math. As did Knuckles.

"What's out that way?" Sally commented, there was nothing out that way but ten miles of forest then ocean and lots of it.

"Angel Island," Knuckles said surprisingly plainly. He remembered where the floating island had been when he left, its current course and speed, (as Guardian it was his job to know of any changes in the island's flight pattern) from what the radar and map showed, that Vengeance was on an intercept course with the flying land mass.

"Sally, I have to-ugh!" Said Knuckles, realizing just how drained he really was as he tried to spread his spines.

"Knuckles!" cried Sally in concern.

"I have to get back to Angel Island, I'm Guardian, I have to be there for them, it's my duty," he grunted, struggling to get up again.

"I wouldn't suggest gliding for you, young man, until you heal," commented Quack.

"Echidnaopolis's doctors have superior equipment, I'll be fine once I get back," whispered Knuckles.

"You still need to get back there," Sally pointed out. "Besides, in case you forgot the nearest place you could find an updraft strong enough to get you up to the island's level is miles away."

Knuckles hated it when someone else was right, as they so often were. As Guardian, he was not allowed to make mistakes or forget important details, it was simply not acceptable. And he could feel his father's ghost looking down on him every time he made an error in judgment.

He began thinking of how long it was going to take him to get there. There was no telling how much damage Riahta and the Knights could do in that span of time. Knuckles tried to think of another way to get back to the island quickly. One idea shot up in his mind.

"Grandfather Athair!" He said in a clear, loud voice getting weird looks from the others. "Teleport me back to Angel Island ..." Nothing. "Please ..." He said, pleading this time. Nothing happened. "Damn you, old man," He finally muttered. He looked at the bandaged Sally as if nothing had happened. "Fine. I ... I need you to fly me to Angel Island, Sally."

Sally smiled. "It would be my pleasure."

"Why do you officers all think you're immortal?" The doctor muttered, placing one hand over his face, his species having sacrificed flight for articulate fingers long ago. "Miss Acorn, you are in no condition to go anywhere. And don't talk to me about Echidnaopolis' superior medical facilities. I went with you on that trip to try and plead with them to join the war, remember? I thought that if nothing else they would help us with new ways to treat our injured at least. I was kept out of their medical labs at gun point ..."

"We can't share our technology, Doctor, for any purpose. One secret would lead to another. You've seen what a mad man like Robotnik did with one particular piece of medical equipment meant to aid cripples and amputees. Can you imagine what all our technology would do?" Knuckles pointed out.

Quack glared at him. "Yes ... for starters, how about people being healed from injuries that could otherwise be fatal, or how about-"

"Dr. Quack, that's enough," said Sally in the imposing tone her father used.

" ... The fact remains you're in no condition to go into a combat zone, we both know you'll end up dead."

Knuckles shrugged, wincing as he did so. "They'll heal her if I tell them to. To the average Echidna, the word of the Guardian is law."

Quack sighed in exasperation. "Fine ..." The doctor relented at last.

"I don't get something," said Amy, speaking at last. "These Knights show up here, and then Knuckles shows up to fight them. I don't get why they came here at all. Who are they, anyway?"

'She doesn't know,' thought Sally. 'Of course, why would she know? She's been hiding in the hanger for the last day and night. Should I tell her? Or lie to her and say that I don't know why. No ... if she had been the one to see them instead, she would tell me about Sonic, she deserves to know what's happened to Miles, but she does have a point. How did Knuckles know about what was going on?'

"Knuckles," said Sally, not looking at Amy much to the girl's frustration, "How _did_ you know what was happening here in Knothole?"

" ... " 'How can I put this without her thinking I'm insane? Heh, after that bit with Athair she probably thinks I already am.' "I got a vision from my great-grandfather, though I didn't find that out till a bit later, in my sleep it showed everyone in Knothole dead. Everything burnt to a husk. Then I saw Sonic, I asked him what had happened and he said that Lightspeed, Tempest and the Order Knights happened. Then Tails came along with one of his tails crushed and gone. I asked if either of them knew where Sally was, Tails didn't but Sonic did, he pointed towards the smoke over Knothole and I saw the Korack and-"

"The what?" interrupted Amy, she didn't speak a word of ancient Echidna. Just like pretty much everyone else in the world, for that matter.

"The ship, I didn't see it then but it was written on the side of the hull in Echidna, Korack, translated precisely it means Vengeance."

"You mean that giant metal bird/scorpion that flew overhead before I found you guys?" Amy asked in surprise.

Knuckles nodded. "The same. Anyway, I said if that was where you were than that's were we were going. And Sonic commented I sounded just like he used to. And-"

"You remember this pretty clearly for a dream," commented Amy.

"I told you it was a vision! Now stop interrupting," snapped the Echidna.

"Sorry," apologized Amy meekly. Knuckles ignored her, like he usually did around her.

"Anyway, I asked what he meant by that and that's when I saw...well, organic metal growing on the both of them. They said they were trapped and were dying a slow death and Sonic was half-way saying that I had to save you this time when the stuff started to strangle them. Then six of the corpses sprang up and revealed a bunch of Mobians who looked the way Sonic and Tails did two seconds later. I saw Sonic was holding you as well, the way you looked when I found you.

"That's when I began to realize what was happening wasn't real. They said together: 'We are Lightspeed, Tempest, and the Order Knights of the Dark Walkers, Guardian!', and then they vanished into the smoke. It was then I woke up." Knuckles decided to leave out how he had stumbled on the dead body of his father just before awakening or how he screamed out Sally's name in real life by what he dearly hoped was an accident or Julie-Su would pump him full of lead if she ever found out. (This, he supposed, would be a lot more merciful than what she would have done if she were her sister, Lien-Da.)

Amy had kept her mouth shut for the remainder Knuckles narrative, but she had begun to hold the arms of the chair she was sitting in so tightly her knuckles (they were visible, she hadn't bothered to put her gloves on when she saw the Special coming in for its landing) turned white, she was biting her lip as the Guardian continued in a halting but collected voice. Her muscles tightened as he went on in light detail and she felt a chill crawl up her spine as her stomach began doing flip flops for some reason she could not determine.

"When I realized it was all a dream I put my face in my hands, and it was then I felt soot. It was around then I realized my dream was no dream but a warning. I somehow woke up Julie, and because of a light fixture right over the head of her bed she wasn't happy about the rude awakening and she caught me on my way out. I barely managed to convince her to let me go. So, without a word to anyone else, I took off for Knothole."

'Your mother will love you when you get back,' thought Sally sarcastically.

"I had reached the beach when I dropped like a stone, the air holding me up got thin in the blink of an eye; I thought I was going to die hitting the sand at that velocity. I hit. It hurt. But I didn't get so much as a bruise. That's when I saw my bastard great-grandfather Athair. Turns out he was the one who gave me my vision and put the soot on my face just as an added incentive. After freezing time just so I would pay attention to he asked if I knew what Anti-Mobius was."

Sally cringed at that name. Sonic had told her about his misadventure in that inverted mirror image of their universe. She herself had met her mirror once. Yllas was cruel, calculating, and Sally suspected mentally ill, a terrorist one person there had commented on being, 'a little girl trying to get daddy's attention'. Yllas got attention all right, all the wrong kind of attention, a warrant for her arrest and reputation for being more than a little violent with anyone who so much as breathed wrong around her.

Amy had also heard of Anti-Mobius from Tails, she didn't know if she had a mirror image there or not, and she didn't want to find out. This really wasn't at the front of her mind however. She was no longer being quiet because she had been told to, but because her voice had died in her throat. Her mind was slowly putting two and two together and she was terrified of what she was coming up with.

"Anyway, after telling him I did, he said Sonic wasn't the only person with a not-so-nice self there, he said that he and the Walkers did too."

"W-who. . .?" Amy barely whispered.

Knuckles was too much into remembering his distaste for his great-grandfather to remember he had told Amy not to ask more questions and ignored her. Sally answered for him. "The Walkers are the main centerpiece of the old religion of the Echidnas. Most are either now atheists or believers in The Creator." The Legion ironically did not fall into the atheist category, but a couple generations back had started worshiping technology itself. It was another reason why the Legion's original purpose had almost been lost completely to those who sought to end the cult, and almost to those who were members. Then Sally realized exactly what Knuckles had said. "What! You mean in that universe there are evil versions of three deities and . . ." Sally remembered what Lightspeed had said the night before.

"_What has happened? The Great Walkers have given me a second chance at life, and revenge on that piece of shit there at your feet!"_

Not Walkers. Great Walkers. Great. Robotnik had used the same title for himself. And so had many a tyrant in Mobius' history.

She hadn't had a chance to think about it before.

"That's who he was talking about ... " Sally whispered to herself. 'That also explains who that old Echidna was on top of the Korack when Lightspeed and Tempest had suddenly gotten their second wind.' Amy meanwhile was as white as a sheet. Maybe . . . maybe Sally was talking about when Sonic came back from Anti-Mobius, that made sense didn't it?

"When he brought them up, I instantly thought the Tails and Sonic I saw change HAD to be Cinos and his Tails, he corrected me a second later." Amy knew she was going to faint. "After that, Athair filled me in on your attack on Robotnik's home base and Geoff's murder attempt on Sonic and Tails." Sally remembered she hadn't told Knuckles about the do or die mission she was supposed to have been on. Then again, it wasn't like they communicated much for the last two years anyway.

'St. John had murdered Tails-San and Sonikku?! He said they were dead already when they dropped them off the plane . . . Did, did he shot them and thrown them off, knifed them in the back?!' Amy's mind over-stimulated her active imagination, resulting in grotesque mental pictures of brutal deaths for her beloved.

"Sonic only said that St. John dropped him off with the full intention of killing him. What really happened? Did your grandfather tell you?"

Knuckles nodded. "Yes, after Sonic killed Robotnik single-handedly in a very close fight he was grievously injured, Tails had to carry him back to your transport, the boy was shot in the back just as he came in the door." Sally hadn't had the chance (or the will) to read Geoff's after-action report, assuming he had even written one, so the thought of her little boy being hurt like that caused her to gasp in horror, as did Amy. "Sonic had lost a lot of blood, and the laser had hit one of Tails' lungs, but Athair said that both would have lived if they had simply made it back here in time." Knuckles like any Echidna had his doubts about other races 'inferior' technology, but he decided that was not important at the moment. "Once in flight, St. John dumped out half of the plane's fuel, and then threw Sonic and Tails along with others just for authenticity out the back half of the plane. After that, Riahta, that's the name of my grandpa's evil opposite according to him, made his move. Don't ask me how he got here or why it's so coincidental that he should show up just when Sonic would be vulnerable to him because I don't know. All I know is what Great Grandpa said: 'Revenge for slavery', though Riahta called it 'Justice for loyalty'. All Sonic needed to do was agree to it, and he was his..."

"M-Miles would never..." Amy whispered.

"After Sonic agreed, the others were in the pact automatically, Riahta then shaped them into what was the ultimate symbol of hate in their minds, machines . . . that ship by the way got made here by Riahta's magic, it wasn't brought here though a rift."

"If . . ." Sally was ordering her body not to shake. "If your Great Grandfather knew so much about what was happening, why didn't he try to stop any of it!?"

Knuckles pounded the side of his bed angrily, almost causing the whole thing to collapse. "To be frank, that's what I'd like to know myself! But getting anything straight out of him he doesn't want you to know is pointless, trust me, I've tried." 'Like the fate of my departed father, for one thing.' "After telling me all this I asked if you were alive. He said 'it matters not, but she does', I wanted to pound his face in, and if I hadn't been paralyzed I would have too! He said you weren't the reason he 'tolerated' my irresponsibility." 'What does a renounced Guardian know about responsibility?' "He said I had to make sure the Dark Walkers didn't get a complete foothold in this universe. It was around then I realized who had put those images in my head and who had put that soot on my face." Knuckles hated being used and manipulated; he was supposed to be a protector, not a tool. It was rather embarrassing that he seemed to become just that practically every other week or so. "I wasn't exactly happy about being tricked, but as my bastard great grandpa was quick to point out, I was going to go anyway because I was worried about you…er, we've been friends a while, after all," he said quickly. "As an after thought he told me that I couldn't kill Sonic or Tails no matter what, part of one of his prophecies, he didn't tell me which one. Old coot's got at least a million of em'."

Sally started at this. Did, did this mean there was hope for them? For Sonic? For Miles!? Could they somehow be saved? Amy wasn't listening in detail at this point, she was not as good as Sally at holding herself in check, tears were starting to come down her face.

Amy could remember only one other time she had been this afraid, and that had been when she had been small enough to hide inside an oak tree. But there was no safe refuge from truth.

'My Tails-chan ... the enemy? Creator please, no.' It was the worst nightmare of anyone in the war against Robotnik. Having to fight a transformed loved one, to see that soulless look on their steel faces, to have them attack you without mercy, to make no heed to your pleas. Some hung themselves or surrendered after that first, hideous encounter that happened eventually to all of them. Neither Amy nor Tails had ever gone though it, Sonic and Sally and later Bunny were the only family he really had. And Amy had no family at all. She knew she had cousins in the eastern territory of Mercia, but she didn't know any of them, and she doubted they were alive in the normal sense of the word by now anyway.

"After one of his fake cheerful goodbyes he restarted time again and one updraft later I was on my way here. It was a gift from the Walkers when I saw Knothole wasn't a graveyard. My heart needed to remember to beat when I saw the nightmare ship from my vision, though. After that, I followed one of the Knights I recognized from my dream into the Korack, figuring if it was where my vision said you were then just maybe that much of it was true. I knew the ship was Echidna in design so I went to the back area where the brig would be and found you being dragged by two more of Riahta's suckers. The rest you know. Your turn. What happened that got you stuck in there in the first place?"

'So', Amy thought when Knuckles had been explaining the fight with the Order Knights, 'he is talking about Sonic and Tails, and the other soldiers who were been injured from the battle at Robotropolis and almost murdered by St. John just so it wouldn't look suspicious that Sonic and Tails had been dropped off.' In a sick, demented part of her brain, Amy was satisfied at least Tails had kept his promise to come back alive.

"I was supposed to be on that mission with Sonic and Miles, but my fath…King Acorn decided that he couldn't risk losing one of his heirs to the throne, so he had St. John give me a fake personal encrypted letter and convinced me to stay behind and decode it. I was a fool. Hours later, I finally realized I had been tricked. I know there was only one person St. John would do that to me for and it was King Acorn. He didn't even deny it. He said . . . some things that showed me what he really thought about Sonic, and his real reasons for disliking him among . . . other things. I then told him what I thought about him and his life and left. It was then that the Special returned."

Knuckles had to remember that was the name of FF's transport. Sally continued. "When I got there I waited for Sonic to emerge from the cargo plane. He didn't. That was when I asked Geoff about it and that was when he told me he was dead. I denied it of course, and a few seconds later, Amy was doing the same about Miles. I left the landing area after telling St. John I had figured out his game. That night we had a celebration about the war's end, I was only there because Elias and Bunnie did everything short of locking me inside to keep me there. St. John was trying to say he was sorry when the Knights burst in. I was getting ready to fight back when I recognized Sonic and Miles. That was when Sonic murdered Geoff without so much as a word."

This was a surprise and shock to both Amy and Knuckles. 'St. John's dead?' Both had been thinking of acts of sweet violence against the soldier, to hear that he was already dead, killed by Sonic, took a second to go though processing. Amy turned pale and thought she was going to vomit, not at the idea of Geoff's death, but that it was Sonic who had done the killing.

"I can't say I'm sorry," commented Knuckles, who was only disappointed he couldn't have done the deed himself. For Echidnas, the death penalty wasn't considered capital punishment, life imprisonment was. Since life imprisonment for Echidnas entailed spending every one of your remaining living moments in a container not large enough to stand in, never to have communication with any other living creature ever again it was small wonder a few fought for execution rather than perpetual confinement. Sally glared at him; she had meant it when she had told Sonic that killing Geoff made him no better than his would be killer. And Knuckles just shrugging it off as if it was nothing really important reminded her of why she had rejected him in the first place a while ago. Sally saw nervousness combined with confusion in Knuckles' eyes at her glare. After several minutes of silence she continued.

"Af . . . .after I saw Sonic kill him, the true reality of what was going on sunk in. I demanded to know what had happened to them. Sonic had said the Great Walkers had given him a new life and a chance for revenge. I realized why Hershey had been acting so strangely before but I had more important things to do. I said the Walkers had made him no better then Geoff. I still wasn't afraid about him hurting me, I found out what a mistake that was a moment later when he struck me, he. . . " Sally didn't want to think about the horrible things her Sonic had said to her. "He said I was as bad a leader as my father because I wasn't there for him. I was too emotionally distraught to think straight. He mocked me by dropping his guard so I could hit him. That was my second mistake, I attacked him thinking I could do some damage. That's how I got these." She gestured to her broken hand and numerous other injuries. "It was then I think that Bunnie realized how close I was coming to getting killed. She made a distraction and I got away long enough to warn Elias and King Acorn. Our Highness, of course, was eager to leave. But he wanted me to come along too. Maybe I was being stupid. Maybe it was idiotic pride. But I wanted to stay and not desert the base. Elias settled things with a blow to his father's glass jaw. Both had gotten away when the other soldiers found me, I spat in the face of the one in front of me and got knocked out."

"Your brother actually did something like that? Maybe there's hope for him yet," complimented Knuckles, everything he had heard about Sally's brother pinned him as a royal lapdog. Sally noted but ignored the remark.

"When I came to...I...I...I wasn't myself, my mind was someplace else, I guess those brutes don't know their own strength because

I overheard from one of the Knights carrying me that Sonic wanted me able to answer questions. Another decided to try pain therapy to sober me up, all it did was make me temporarily worse, I finally snapped out of it long enough to regain the working part of my brain. They started moving me again and that was when you attacked the big one."

As the story concluded, the emotions in Amy's mind began to reach their climax. "No..." Both Sally and Knuckles started, they had completely forgotten about Amy. It was the story of her life.

"Nooo!" Amy finally screamed at the top of her lungs and bolted for the door.

"Amy!" Said Sally in alarm. The good doctor, realizing the princess's desire, grabbed hold of the girl as she bolted past him.

"Let me go!" Amy snarled.

"Not this time!" Scolded Sally. "We thought you might have killed yourself last night! I'm not going to give you a second shot at it!"

If there was ever a time Amy cursed not possessing her race's high level of running speed, it was then. She still had the thinking speed and reaction time Hedgehogs needed not to run into brick walls, that was what made it worse, all her life it had felt like she was wearing lead weights, her body not moving as fast it should have, it was part of her curse for being a slow-mo among hedgehogs, a freak. It had never hurt before, but now it hurt so badly. If only she was a little faster she could get away from his squirrel who had claimed her first love before she had even met him, maybe she would have been on that mission and been there to stop St. John from setting up her Tails to become a monster. She hated it, and in that moment she hated herself for not being what she should have been, fast, a hedgehog's birthright. A hedgehog with no speed was no hedgehog at all, she was no hedgehog, she was a pink-quilled mistake of nature.

She couldn't afford to be angry with herself for long, so she was angry at another to sate the emotion.

Amy glared at Knuckles.

"Sonic isn't a murderer! Tails isn't a walking nightmare! It's a lie! It has to be!"

"Amy, Knuckles has no reason to lie to me, to us!" Sally pointed out.

"He's an Echidna!" She snarled as if the name itself was profanity enough. "We begged for their help and they left us to the roboticizer!"

Sally sighed at this. For Echidnas to think they were superior was bad enough, when Mobians began to see them as. . . .what word could be used to describe it? Traitors? Enemies? Self-centered stuck ups (okay maybe a few but no more than Mobians had)? Live and let die had been the foreign policy of the Echidna government for well over a century. It made them popular with some nations, but far from liked with others. Sally's nation was among the latter.

"Amy I don't want to believe what's happened either . . . . . But what I want to believe doesn't matter! As someone once said, 'What is, is.' Amy, the universe isn't going to change just because I desire it to, or because I decide to believe a lie and therefore think that'll become truth just because I believe its truth. Truth DOESN'T change Amy."

Amy stopped struggling. She looked at Knuckles. "I . . . I'm sorry." Quack carefully let her go and she sat back down at her chair. The tears flowed once again. Amy didn't cry out as the tears formed, she simply sat there as they came down her face. Sally knew exactly how she felt. But unlike Amy she wouldn't shed tears a second time for her lover and surrogate son, if Athair had told Knuckles not to kill Sonic or Miles, then that meant there still had to be hope for them, for all of them, there wouldn't be any reason for Knuckles not to kill them if there wasn't. Sally thought of the Roboticization process, and all the time and effort they had put into finding a way to reverse it. There had been some limited successes with temporarily restoring free will to a victim with contact from loved ones before their programming reasserted itself. But as for restoring them physically it had been one failure after another. Most, including Sally had come to the grim conclusion that they were trying to turn the hamburger back into the cow.

"Emi' sayin' she's sorry for somethin'? That's all gotta be the most bizarre thing that's happened yet!" Sally would know that sense of humor anywhere even without that accent.

"Bunnie!" Said Sally, when they had come in, none of the trio had bothered to check on who was on the medical bunks.

The cyborg stood up, not nearly as hurt as Sally had thought her friend would be when she had last seen her.

"I thought the Knights beat you to a pulp after I escaped."

Bunnie chuckled. "Just some dents and very big bruises. Nothing worse than what you have," replied the rabbit.

"Saying she was bed stricken was the best way I could think of to keep the Knights from doing worse to her," explained the doctor.

Bunnie nodded. "If you're going to give Red here a ride home, then count me in."

"Why? It's not like you'll be staying that long," said the Echidna.

"And you and yer pals are going ta fight them monsters all by yourselves?" the rabbit asked.

Knuckles frowned. "What? This is our concern now. Stay out of it."

"Like Hell it isn't!" Snapped Sally. "Sonikku and Miles and the rest are our friends and family. It's our responsibility."

"Look, even as Guardian I can only look out for so many of you. You bringing along a Platoon is not going to look nice."

"Look?! Knuckles, I saw how close Sonic and Miles came to killing you. You're going to need every able bodied solider you can get your hands on. Besides, we can just keep you here until you decide to let us help you."

"Want to try?" Threatened Knuckles.

"You're bluffing and we both know it."

"I could just have them kick you off at gunpoint after you get me there," Knuckles pointed out.

"We both know you'll never do that to me Knuckles..."

Knuckles was having his fill of the melodrama. "I need to get back to Angel Island now! We don't have time to decide who's going, who's staying and to brief troops; the Knights are getting closer to my home every second that we're standing here! Now, Sally can you get that glorified cargo plane to take me back now or not? Otherwise I don't care if I have to swim back to the island!"

Sally sighed, once an echidna's mind was made up, you needed high explosives to change it. "Fine. Then I won't put together a team, you're right, we don't have time. Just us here will go."

Bunny was Sally's most able fighter next to Sonic and Miles. Sally also knew how Echidna's felt about cyborgs, Bunnie would not get many admirers from the populace as a result, so their best bet would be to stay close to Knuckles.

"Okay, just let me get my crossbow and hammer from my hut," said Amy, going for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Demanded Sally.

"I'm coming with you!"

"No you aren't!"

"Just TRY and stop me!" Amy snarled.

"Amy!" Sally snapped.

"You need everyone you could get you're hands on right now, I can fight!"

"You didn't see what those monsters can do."

"I don't care! Tails needs me!"

Sally was about to tell Quack to inject Amy with a sedative when she remembered what had happened when Sonic and Miles had first returned.

"_What would Amy think of you now?" A look of deep confusion and fear entered Tails face, but it died a few seconds later._

For a few precious seconds she had seen Miles in those eyes at the mention of the girl hedgehog's name. Maybe Amy was the key to unlocking wherever Miles was inside that living weapon.

Sally sighed and fixed Amy with a steady glare. "Go get your normal gear and go straight for the hanger, don't dally."

Amy nodded. "Right . . . And Sally. . . th . . . tha . . ."

Amy struggled on the words. "Thank you." She headed out the door with all the speed her body could muster.

"Well," Commented Bunnie. "THAT is the most bizarre thing that's happened yeat. But Ah can't decide if it's ya relentin' with her, or her actually thankin' ya for it."

"I can't believe that you're letting that stupid ditz come along," grumbled Knuckles.

Sally looked at him intently. "When I mentioned Amy's name to Miles he seemed to revert to his true self for a split second, maybe she can reach him."

"You couldn't reach Sonic," Knuckles said flatly.

"Knuckles . . . I know what I saw. I know Miles, and for a precious moment I saw HIM in that empty face."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Can't you Mobians just be realistic for once instead of relying on blind optimism?"

"Your great grandfather told you not to kill them didn't he!? There MUST be a way to save them! There HAS to be!"

The echidna sighed in exasperation. "Don't you Mobians ever change?"

"I can ask the same thing about you!"

"Uh, excuse me," said Quack. "If you all insist on going there's someone else I'd like you to take along."

"Sorry doctor, you're too badly needed here," replied Sally.

"Not me!" Defended the physician. "I meant her." He pointed to someone sitting in the med. lab's corner. She hadn't said a word the entire time they had been there, and if Quack hadn't pointed her out, Sally would have never noticed her. Her fur was black velvet while her chest, lower face and "gloves" were snow white. A red piece of cloth that normally hung around her neck now was wrapped around one of her upper arms. The weapons holster that hung around her hip was empty.

"Hershey Feline?" The cat didn't even look at her.

Sally took a step closer and gasped as her eyes glanced at the cat's arms. There was a bandage around either of the cat's wrists. Sally didn't bother with stupid questions; she simply stared in shock for a few seconds before turning to Quack. "How?"

"We're just lucky the Knights took her gun when they rounded up everyone." Hershey would carry her weapon even after victory; she was similar to St. John like that. "Otherwise she would have just put the barrel in her mouth and pulled the trigger. As a bonus she forgot which way to cut and just hit bone when she took my penknife while I was looking over Bunnie. "

"How did Bunnie and Hershey get here? I don't think the Knights would have let you move them."

Sally knew for a fact Quack had been with his patients when they had been celebrating Robotnik's death.

"Bunnie was limp when they brought her in here. Didn't even respond to their questions. I guessed she was playing possum and lied to them saying she had taken a slight blow to the head and was disoriented, plus all the blows they had given her had left her too injured to move on her own. Don't ask me why they even brought her here, maybe they wanted her in top condition before they started interrogating her so she wouldn't drop dead half way though. That was also when they brought Hershey in. She was a zombie. It took me half an hour just to get a few words out of her. I don't think the Knights so much as pushed her the wrong way. I found a bruise underneath her bandana but it seemed too old to have been a gift from one of them. I asked her about it and she mumbled it so low I had to ask her twice to say it louder. Finally she just snapped 'Jeff' at me."

It was strange. Sonic had murdered St. John. But had left Hershey completely untouched. But even Sally could tell she had been there when Geoffrey had tried to murder Sonic and had done nothing from the cat's behavior. Maybe someone hadn't bothered to put that in...Sally began to wonder how much of what Sonic was feeling was what he was really feeling, and how much was being told to him to feel. Curious…

"Hershey Feline?" Sally said in an uncertain tone. The cat's conditioning as a soldier kicked in, but not by much.

"What?" She said as if she herself weren't a worthy topic of discussion.

Sally took hold of one of the bandaged wrists. "Why?!"

Hershey's words were low but harsh. "Because I'm a traitor! Traitors deserve to die! I just stood there when Jeff threw them all out to their deaths!... When I looked at him ... it was like looking into the face of a stranger ... There's no excuse for what I did! I stood there like I was watching a movie! Some part of me must have wanted Sonikku and Tails to die! That can be the only reason! I'm a traitor, I deserve to die."

Quack whispered to the ground squirrel. "Sally I want you to take Hershey with you before I come back from a bathroom break and find she's hung herself using my bed sheets."

"What!?" Sally cried in alarm.

"She is an experienced solider Sally, you can use her."

"Not if she's spending her time thinking of ways to get herself killed! Someone with a death wish is a hazard to the enemy and friends on the battlefield."

Quack shook his head. "She's a soldier; she'll do what's expected of her. You heard what she called herself. When she joined St. John's platoon she was just a soldier for higher. Fighting for what's right changes people." Was this duck a mind reader? "She can't stand what she let happen. She'll know this is a way she can make amends."

"I don't know if I want her to," said Sally darkly.

"Doctor's orders! Besides, you don't have time to put together a combat team and like said, she's still an experienced fighter." And that was that.

Sally sighed, Quack was right, she didn't have time to put together and prepare troops. Sally only hoped she didn't end up dead along with Hershey because of this. What did mercenaries know of loyalty? What did someone whose devotion was their bank account know about allegiance? If Ivo Robotnik had had his way, this planet would have been a planet of machines, his master plan had no room for any living thing, (rumor had it he was planning on transferring his consciousness into a robot body at some point in the near future himself) there had never been a war like this one in history, one where it was life against machinery, not ideals or political standings. That sort of thing brought out the soul in even people like Hershey who spent their lives going with whatever side paid the most.

Sally regretted that it took something like this to realize that Hershey wasn't the amoral hired gun who had joined up with St. John's platoon for lack of more promising jobs. Sally suddenly realized something. "Hershey... What happened to St. John's body?"

The skin underneath the cat's fur turned pale. "Please," she pleaded. "I'm begging you, don't make me tell you what they did. I never thought I could see something done to a dead body again that could make me sick. I was wrong." Sally decided to trust the former mercenary's judgment on this subject.

"Hershey, get up, you're coming with us."

Hershey blinked in confusion. "What?"

"You want to beat yourself into the ground? Fine. But if you really do feel as remorseful as you say you are then you'll help us. Geoffrey always said he was sorry but he never did anything about it. Prove to me you're not the same."

Hershey looked at her a little surprised, speechless.

"Can we go already?" Mumbled Knuckles.

"Fine." She didn't imply if she was addressing the echidna or Hershey. "Come on, let's go." One foot in front of the other, she walked outside the medical ward.

Knuckles was quick to follow, accompanied by Bunnie. They were halfway to the hanger when a breathless cat caught up with them.

Sally spoke as if Hershey being there was nothing special. "Yes?"

The cat stuttered. " ... Officer Hershey Feline re ... reporting for duty as ordered, Sir."

Sally did her best to hide the smile that tugged at her face.

…

Amy was there waiting for them at the hanger. She had (of course) spent a minute washing herself up before arriving but thoughts of Tails (combined with the fact she believed they would ditch her if she didn't beat them there) had given her all the motivation she needed to get to the hangar.

She had to see Tails with her own eyes, to see what he had become. She had her combat hammer in hiding under her dress, and her crossbow was strapped across one shoulder like a purse, along with several explosive-tipped arrows. Amy was proud of the time she had taken out two robots with just one shot from her weapon. Sally had always had serious doubts about someone like Amy going on a mission, let alone into combat with such backwater weapons.

Amy's hammer was a gift from Tails (though he did have help designing and making it) and it could fit in her hand when in its compact size and could expand to its deadly full size with the same speed and accuracy that other people used when carrying hidden knives. Amy claimed that she had once destroyed Robotnik's heavy armor E-series prototype with just her combat hammer. Of course, they only had her account of things to go on. Anyone who laughed at her story, however, ended up with a cracked skull.

After MUCH 'discussion' that finally ended in, 'it's an order' Amy reluctantly started to carry a laser pistol as well on the missions she was allowed on. Allowed. Not requested or needed, allowed. It seemed she was denied every chance to prove herself. In spite of the fact she had proven her strength at infiltration and snipping with the primitive weapon. It came as a surprise to many how good she was with the crossbow, or how effective it was against Robotnik's machines. (Sometimes old-school weaponry was more practical against modern technology than more modern technology.)

Amy (like many under Sally) disliked how hard it was to keep the stolen lasers from Robotnik's robots operational, unlike others though, she actually did something about it. She had just dropped her gun in frustration and had walked out leaving it where it lay, and the next day, she was reading some of Rotor's and Tails books and was fashioning a traditional cross bow. It took her almost a week to make the bow. She spent nearly every waking hour on that weapon. It was one of the few things in Amy's life she was proud of and could call her own.

The hedgehog was the first inside the plane, still thinking there was a chance she could get left behind at the last minute (Sonic had done it to her often enough). Amy cringed; the inside still had blood stains. Had it been any other mission they would have been cleaned up, but with this final sortie, no one saw the need. Amy sat down; thinking of what Tails might look like now, if he would recognize her, if he would attack her like Sonic had attacked Sally.

'No!' She couldn't think like that. She couldn't risk thinking like that. She had to believe that Tails could be saved, and if he could, he was going to need her at her strongest. She was going to prove that she wasn't a little girl anymore, she was going to prove that she wasn't a 'professional hostage' as some of Sally's Freedom Fighters had dubbed her after she had been used as bait for Sonic on two separate occasions. Normally Amy lived for compliments on her sweetness. But if anyone then had called her 'little', 'cute', or 'dear' she would of most decidedly punched them out.

The Special was hastily refueled. (No one had bothered to refuel it. After all, the war WAS over.) But it wasn't fast enough for Knuckles. The Echidna usually prided himself on being more patient than Sonic, now he was pacing the inside of the plane and wondering perhaps it was going to be faster just to swim after all.

Hershey came in next, her holster full again. Sally couldn't decide if she herself was being sympathetic or stupid by letting the cat carry a laser, but she was going to have to eventually arm her and it might of well have been then. The black cat did her best not to look at anything, because everything in the plane reminded her of what her Jeff had done.

Sally came in last after doing her customary triple check on all of The Special's external systems, much to the frustration of Knuckles who was beginning to think that he was going to have to use a cane for support by the time they took off. Angel Island was the only home he had ever known, as Guardian it had been his sworn duty to protect it above all things. Sally had no idea how much it ate at him when she had left the island that second time, how much her words had cut at him. But he was Guardian, his duty came first and last, he wasn't allowed to feel regret. But he felt it all the same.

"Hershey, get to the cock pit," ordered Sally.

"Me?" The cat asked in surprise.

"You are The Special's designated pilot, aren't you?"

The feline started at this. Not knowing what else to do, she simply nodded and gave a "yes sir" just before entering the head of the plane and placing herself in the pilot's seat. The images of what Jeff had done kept playing in her mind like a video tape set on repeat. Why had she just stood there like an idiot? The whole experience had been unreal, inhuman, nightmarish, but nightmares ended, and this nightmare didn't seem to have any end in sight. She pushed the ugly thoughts out of her head for the moment, and concentrated on the task at hand, going over the mental checklist for the plane's take off. She did each part of the procedure precisely, professionally, the way she had done it a dozen times before. The engines began their whine that would quickly become that familiar roar. The guilt of what she had done, and the shame of cowardice for not coming forward attacked her mind, but she wouldn't, couldn't, allow them to interfere.

"_Geoffrey always said he was sorry but he never did any about it._

_Prove to me your not the same."_

She gripped the direction controls so hard her hands threatened to bleed. With Jeff dead, Sally was her commanding officer. She had told her to prove she wasn't the same as Jeff. And by Deity she would.

Bunnie looked at Sally and Amy, the fate of their loved ones must have been tearing them up inside, but they still went forward; she had to admire them for that.

Bunnie looked down at her body, her one-piece violet bodysuit covering her flesh torso; her cursed metal limbs caught the light dully after having lost their finish from the beating the Knights had given her.

In spite of hating them now and then, Bunnie still found herself polishing the things every other day. Or she used to until Sally pointed out that shiny metal was a lot easier to spot on a stealth mission than the dull stuff. Bunnie surprised herself when he realized how frustrated she was from this, not being able to polish her robotic parts, she guessed that even after their transfiguration, they were still her arms and legs, and still wanted them to look as good as the rest of her, just one of the other little ironies in her life. Bunnie always refused any modifications to her robot parts, in fear that changing them might somehow make it impossible for her to be cured at a later date, though as was said before; it was becoming increasingly clear that they would have better luck getting the eggs out of an already baked cake. But Bunnie kept on hoping, after all, when you lost hope, there was nothing left.

The world gets stranger every day, Sally thought. She was using the words of Athair to convince herself that there was still a way to save Sonic and Miles. Sally had no real love for the Walkers which Athair served, and Athair had been the one to put Miles into that horrible four-way chaos energy battle a few years back. How could he? She didn't care if Tails was part of one of his important prophecies, Miles was her responsibility.

But no, Miles had grown up a long time ago. He wasn't a child anymore. And even if Amy could reach Miles there was still Sonic. 'What can I do differently from what I did before? He has to be alive in there somewhere. But how do I reach him? How do I make him realize what he's become? There has to be a way. If I believed in the no-win scenario then I would have turned myself in for Roboticization a week after the coup.'

Once again, The Special roared as it took into the air as a silver bird of prey with a hunter's cry. Sally hoped allowing Hershey to pilot the plane wasn't a mistake, Sally seemed to be making a lot lately. She didn't care if her words sounded like something out of a play or not as she whispered to herself when she felt the plane lift into the air.

"I'll save you Sonic ... I swear it."

Flames, comments, good or bad reviews, suggestions, reactions, occasional constructive criticism all welcome. Spelling and grammar corrections also welcome as long as you tell what you think of the story itself too. Thanks Ri2 for editing this. Seriously, one of the reviewers I realize was dead right about the recap this chapter was really a waste of pages but it still served to show Ami's slow realization of what had happened to Tails, my only regret is that I let it drag on for so long now.


	5. reminder this isn't dead

Okay, this is not an update, but rather a reminder to people that I have not forgotten about this story. I know it might seem that way. But I'm not giving up. I never give up on a story.

The inner reflections of those aboard the Special did not change much as the plane continued to fly through the air towards Angel Island. Hearshy kept herself and her mind busy on flying the aircraft, of course, there was a problem since they were flying over an ocean with few air current her mind might as well have been on auto-pilot, leaving her time to think more about what she had let Geoff do, what she had let happen. Everything that was happening, everything that would happen, it was all her fault. She deserved whatever she got. 

However, her superior officer had given her an order to get them to the floating island, and she would obey it. 

Angel Island appeared at first as nothing more than a speck on the horizon, only as the flying machine drew closer could one appreciate it's sheer mass and size. 


	6. We are Back Baby! More on the way!

WE ARE BACK BABY! Chapter One is revised and revamped! Read it baby! You won't regret it!


	7. Chapter 2 Revamped!

Told you we were back baby!! Chapter Two is now revised and revamped! Read it dude! You will not regret it!


	8. Revamp Chapter 3 is up!

Okay people! This is revamp number 3 had been uploaded! Read it and you shall be so happy that you did!


	9. Revamps complete! Next one main events!

And that is four! That's the last of the revamps! Now get ready for brand new material all ready written next chapter! You've waited long enough and now it shall be rewarded THIS AIN'T NO SUMMARY YER GONNA BE READING NEXT!


	10. ArrivalDepart: ATTACK On Angel Island!

If I get this chapter up, I say right now, it's only because God helped me write it!!!

To the one who wanted Elias to make another appearance, sorry, there's just no more room.

Shadow Sonic, (before Shadow The Hedgehog even existed in the games) was the guy who came up with this, and never wrote a single word for it. So here I am doing someone else's story.

Fanfiction was just another game back then, thus, I was able to put myself into it fully, since it was a game. When it became real, I couldn't put myself into it anymore. That is irony.

It also stinks I lost all my original notes for this story. Many of them whole scenes!

What a fool I was to leave things to rot as long as I did.

Thanks God.

I looked for them. I found them. My notes! … Dang I was really loose-knit and irrational with some parts!

GODA is in da house! Read the play 'Waiting For Goda' if you want to learn what that means.

Plus, since I threw in so many pop culture references when I first wrote this thing, I've decided to honor that tradition.

Lines parodied by the Goo Goo Dolls. (changed enough to insure no rules are broken) for Knuckles/Mourning Star fight.

The Order Knight designs are ether modified or created by Ri2. Hats off also goes to fellow author Ri2 who edited the previous chapters and this one top to bottom. And I forgive him for being a bit of a religious phobic. And I forgive him for throwing in bits of his own brand of humor into this. You'll know them when you see them. And while I can appreciate that he tried to make Riahta less the 'get ride of them him everything will be fine' or 'everything would have been without him' villain, I felt his methods missed the POINT of a few of the scenes I wrote. He also write several scenes which basically had the gods acting like bums or average petty Joe, which I felt didn't really fit with the story. He also wrote an epilogue set in Anti-Mobius around these and he had some very good ideas around the identities of some of the Anti-s of many of Mobius' heroes and villains (in particular a heroic version of the immortal Mammoth Mongul) but it just didn't fit with what I was aiming for with this story, which I had at the end was revealing the hearts and souls of the characters. I have no idea how badly I failed at that, but hey, what's the point unless you try right?

Hats off to ideas taken from the series Ronin Warriors! Rhapsody A Musical Adventure. Full Metal Alchemist. Spider-Girl, latias' Journey, Dominic Oracle for Hire, Beast Wars, Sword of Truth, Doctor Who, Pokemon Manga, Yuyu Hakisho, Dragonlance Test of the Twins, Dragonlance Love and War, X-Men original animated series, 8-Bit Theater, Pokemon Manga, Books of choice of my grade school of two decades ago, the TSA story "Bait and Switch", Chain of Memories, Red Dwarf, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek DS9, Lord of the Rings, 'I have no mouth, but I must scream,' Spider-Man, Gargoyles, Yugihoh, YugiohGX, Digimon Tamers fanfiction involve the corrupt version of Guilmon evolution I can't remember the name of right now, Oracle for Hire. And Evangelion. And Key The Metal Idol for their direct inspiration.

The inner reflections of those aboard the Special did not change much as the plane continued to fly through the air towards Angel Island. Hershey kept herself and her mind busy on flying the aircraft. Of course, there was a problem since they were flying over an ocean with few air currents that could trouble the Special so her mind might as well have been on auto-pilot, leaving her time to think more about what she had let Geoff do, what she had let happen. Everything that was happening, everything that would happen, it was all her fault. She deserved whatever she got.

However, her superior officer had given her an order to get them to the floating island, and she would obey it.

The rising sun cared not for wars or who ruled the globe. It only did what it had since the dawn of time as it continued its trek across the sky. Knuckles wondered why he couldn't be that constant. Ugh. Sally said that was his problem: that he was as stiff and rigid as the rest of his race, unable to accept change in any form. From anyone else Knuckles would have just considered this ignorance on Echidna culture, but Knuckles knew Sally had more knowledge on his race's society than most of its own members, something that disturbed the Guardian to no end.

Echidnas seemed to be forgetting their sense of racial identity. It was all about looking out for number one, never your fellow Echidna. And his leaders had the gall to call the other races inferior?

While Knuckles did agree that giving out technology to the 'lower races' was like giving death-rays to children, Knuckles secretly considered his own race not wise enough to use its own gifts correctly. He never said this to Julie's face though. While Julie had left the Legion for its terrible methods, she still believed in 'Dimitri's Vision,' that all technology should be available to all echidnas. If there was one thing about his girlfriend he had learned, it was to stay away, far away, from anything remotely political. Discussing it with her was like tap-dancing with metal spiked heels on a powder cake. Then again, Knuckles couldn't complain, for Sally politics was like throwing a firebomb on a powder cake.

Maybe that was why Sonic was attracted to Sally, the blue hedgehog seemed addicted to danger…almost ridiculously so. Instead of skydiving, he got his kicks by fighting megalomaniacal robotophiles.

After the pink brat had left to get her things to come to his ancestral home Knuckles had managed to use the Mobian's near Stone Age technology to call and contact Remington on Angel Island and warn him of the approach of a decidedly hostile force and to mobilize the police force. Though Knuckles wondered if it would do any good with cops so used to fighting one particular enemy. Except for the incident with Robotnik, the Legion's actions had been the only real major civil disruptions in a century.

The echidnas kept relying on Knuckles to solve their problems with 'outsiders', which got annoying after a while.

Remington was his normal 'yes Guardian', 'no Guardian' 'of course Guardian' self. Knuckles knew he meant well, Knux just wished Remington would get it into his head he didn't want to be called 'Guardian' by a friend. He also didn't want Sally to know this fact in case she would _start_ calling him Guardian all the time just to get on his nerves.

Angel Island appeared at first as nothing more than a speck on the horizon. It was only as the flying machine drew closer that one could appreciate its sheer mass and size.

The island moved lazily through the sky, most of the time moving purely to the whim of the winds. Only when there was a dire need was the power of the Master Emerald called upon to move the island in a direction opposed to the will of nature. (And dire times were definitely up ahead.) Angel Island was large than all of Robotropolis and Knothole put together, and a good chunk of the Great Forest to boot with room left over for the Great Beyond desert.

Those who had never visited thought they'd find a flying city, or a great rock covered over by green growth over its entire surface. They were wrong. Deserts, ice caps, jungle, forest, mushrooms the size of trees, multiple ruins of long abandoned cities, Angel Island was a very diverse small _continent._ And near the most famous of these ruins, the exquisite Marble Gardens, lay Echidnaopolis, the shinning heart of the Echidna people. Its skyscrapers surpassed even the redwoods of the Great Forest in height, with glass and metal reflecting sunlight so brightly it could be seen from miles away: it was a gem on a green pillow in the sky. It truly didn't show the political turmoil that stirred just below the surface. But in the end, this dark side _still_ didn't take away any of the beauty the city held.

Aside from Robotnik's failed attempt to use the Master Emerald as a battery for his Death Egg project, the echidnas hadn't had a conflict with outsiders since the raising of the island. And Robotnik's betrayal still hadn't been enough to get the echidnas to aid the Acorn Kingdom, was it any wonder most Mobians couldn't stand Echidnas?

Not that any of that truly mattered right now, as much as Knuckles hated to admit it, Sally was right, this wasn't just his race's concern right now.

As the Special came closer to Angel Island, and all aboard steeled themselves for a fight right out of the cargo doors, everyone was surprised to see that there were no giant fires, no toppled buildings, the island looked perfectly fine. There was also absolutely no sign of the Vengeance. They had beaten it here!

That was stupid. That thing had easily been faster than the Special, and yet the heroes hadn't so much as seen it on their way here. Feeling cautious, Sally used the built-in sensors in her palmtop Nicole to scan for anything out of the ordinary: no holographic field, no weapons lock, no nothing.

Knuckles asked how such a tiny piece of junk should be able to do anything, until Sally reminded him that Nicole was a gift from her father, in his saner days, when Sally and her parent had last visited the island before Robotnik's coup. Nicole was echidna technology, the type no one was supposed to have, a parting gift done under the table purely as an act of kindness. By whom Knuckles never found out.

…

Sabre sneezed, nearly knocking the pages out of his old, old, old, old, old, old, old, old, old, old, old, old, ooollld, text-printed copy of 'Gone With The Storm.'

"You okay dad?" Locke asked.

Sabre chuckled and wiped his snout. "Heh, someone must be talking about me."

Locke rolled his eyes. "That's just some cliché myth."

…

"So, Knuckles," Sally asked politely. "Do you sense anything?"

After having seen a golden hedgehog in the sky chasing after a giant red robot stealing the Master Emerald a couple years back, the people of Mobius as a general rule didn't doubt the existence or ability of chaos force, which Knuckles was most decidedly adept in.

Knuckles complied with Sally's request, and wasn't surprised to find that he didn't sense anything unusual coming from Angel Island. For a reason none of them could guess at, they _had_ beaten the Vengeance here.

"'Bout time somethin' good happen' ta us." Bunnie quipped.

"Don't jinx it," Knuckles returned.

In the meantime, Hershey calmly picked up the radio mike next to the controls and spoke through it on a common frequency to the city's control tower. "Echidnaopolis, this is the Freedom Fighter Special, request clearing for landing."

A stern voice replied over the speaker. "Ship calming to be the 'Freedom Fighter Special,' cease your approach or you'll be declared hostile."

This started Hershey. "This is the Freedom Fighter's Special, please repeat Echidnaopolis?"

"Cease your approach or you'll be considered the enemy. The Guardian has warned us of your approach, so-"

Knuckles bolted from his seat and ripped the mike out of Hershey's paws. "These aren't the enemy you moron! Now let us land already!"

The voice at the other end sounded rather annoyed. "Who is this? Whoever you are, don't think some ignorant non-echidna can-"

"This _is_ Knuckles dummy! The Guardian!" In a cartoon Knuckles' would have barked flames into mike that would come out the other end settinng the com-officer's hat on fire.

The clearly brain-dead controller wasn't buying it. "How do we even know you're the Guardian?"

Knuckles grinned fiercely, showing sharp teeth, his voice steady, calm, and frighteningly dangerous. "Ask...that…again."

"Give me that stupid! Guardian!" Remington's familiar voice came through this time. "Welcome home! You and your Mobian escorts are cleared for entering Echidnaopolis!"

"Thanks Remington." Knuckles tossed the mike back to the black cat.

Amy turned to Bunnie. "Are they always this friendly?"

The half-robian shrugged. "Don't ya look at me; this here's mah first time here too."

Not taking her eyes off the island Sally muttered. "Wait till you meet the welcoming committee."

…

The Special entered the city limits without fanfare, slowing to a snail's pace. Amy was given a free view of the peoples and happening of Echidnaopolis.

Amy had to admit, from everything she had figured about echidnas from Knuckles and their lack of actions during the Great War and the war with Robotnik, she figured Echidnaopolis would be a lot more, well, oppressive. She expected a city that was a reflection of Robotropolis, smoke stacks, decay, and a sense of doom over everything. She hadn't expected silver and white high-rises made of polished steel and glass.

She hadn't expected echidnas walking about calmly, businessmen going to board meetings, construction workers carrying blueprints, mothers pulling their kids away from ice cream stands. Kids! This was easily the weirdest thing Amy could have expected to see. She figured echidnas cloned themselves or something. The idea that echidnas started out as cheerful and innocent tykes just like every other person on Mobius was nearly impossible for poor Amy to process. And these kids acted normal! They smiled, they laughed, they whined, they made a scene when they didn't get what they wanted, just like any other child Amy had ever seen.

Bunnie wasn't quite as ignorant as Amy was on the subject of echidna culture, so the southern rabbit wasn't befuddled by the sight of children in the capital city of the people who had been mildly demonized during the last two wars but only because humans and their machine offspring had remained the central point of anger for the Mobian public. The place actually reminded Bunnie of her few precious memories of Mobotroplolis before it had been turned into all factories and ruins. Not so much for the architecture, though there was that too, it was really the sight of people just living opposed to fighting for their lives. Happy. Out in the sun. They weren't afraid of some unearthly unnatural force coming to strip them of everything that made them people and then reduce them to numbers in a computer directory.

Only Knuckles and Sally understood the truth of what went on underneath the surface of this city (and even then, there was a great deal still kept hidden from them). As for Hershey, she concentrated on flying, she didn't let anything distract her she knew how far down the abyss she'd fall if she let herself.

Following the instructions given to her over the radio (the Echidna on the other end making more than one comment about how weird it was not being able to see her face while speaking to her) Hershey guided the Special over the high-rise landing pad and began her slow vertical descent.

As the air craft settled to the top of the elevated surface, Knuckles glared at the pink hedgehog and said. "All right little girl, while here you do what I say, when I say it. If you don't you're going to be in serious hot water and not from me."

Amy put her fists on her hips. "I'm not a 'little girl'."

"Amy." Sally said. "Not right now." Amy's face flushed but she said nothing else.

The Freedom Fighters left the Special, Knuckles in the lead, Sally only slightly behind and to his right, while the others formed up behind them.

Already waiting outside for them was a squad of five echidnas in green and white jackets, all of them holding rifles. The nearest one Knuckles recognized easily as the uniformed echidna stepped forward.

Remington had known Knuckles for years, ever since Knuckles had officially become Guardian. He certainly wasn't a bad person, and Knuckles trusted him completely in a fight. And while Remington was as biased as any Echidna about Legionnaires like Julie, Knuckles gave him credit for treating non-echidnas like equals as opposed to backwater yokels.

While Knuckles liked to consider him a part of the Chaotix, Remington was still a cop, and the other Chaotix weren't sure about rubbing elbows with this echidna that lacked any super-Mobian abilities unlike themselves.

Unlike most Echidnas who sported a bright red coat like Knuckles himself did, Remington's fur was a dark brown, with black head fur. His green and black jacket was much the same as his subordinates save for a cloth patch marking his station and an Australian-style hat (though no one on Mobius knew the reference) of his own preference.

Remington also had a solid and serious expression that only vanished when

Remington was addressing the Guardian, or talking about Remington's wife, who much to Knuckles' embarrassment the young Guardian had never even met and yet he already knew everything about her from her bra size to how she drooled in her sleep.

But if there was one thing that was abrasive about the brown echidna- "Guardian! Thank you for your return! When you departed from us last night with no word we were worried some terrible fate had befallen you! Not that you _have_ to leave us any word of course, but-" It was that mother hen attitude of his!

"Remington, relax, I'm fine, and we have a lot more important things to worry about right now," Knuckles said quickly before Remington could do something as embarrassing as take his temperature in front of everyone. It had happened before.

One of those lot more important things, obviously made to stand at the back, pushed her way past the EST towards Knuckles. Knux knew who it was instantly, he winced and looked at Sally, then back at the newcomer, and only hoped that the blood didn't end up splattering all over the landing pad.

The pink echidna started at Bunnie's body parts but quickly turned her gaze upon the lass far too close to her man than she liked. (Which would preferably be a few dozen feet to the right, just far enough for the other woman to fall off over the edge to the street below).

"So..." She said icily. "You're Sally Acorn huh?"

"_Princess_ Sally." Stone cold. While Sally had told her father what she thought of him, at last, it seemed that her royal bearing was as much a part of her as her soldier's composure. "And that would make you Julie-Su Dimitri?"

"Just Julie-Su, the last part's just bad luck."

"I understand." Sally's face remained dead serious.

Remington clearly wasn't prepared for Julie's performance. "Forgive me Miss Acorn, the Legionnaire, I mean, the Guardian's woman, she insisted on being here."

Knuckles barely held back a groan of misery. Why did Sally and Julie look like a couple of wolves ready to tear each other's throats out over a mate? Were he and Sally finished or not?! If they were through then why should Julie bother her at all? Women! Understanding the mind of the Master Emerald was easier! And fewer people had gone stark raving mad trying to figure it out. (It was actually rather easy to do, once you knew how. Which Knuckles did, of course. And didn't plan on telling a soul, part of the Guardian mystique after all.)

Knuckles changed the subject. "Remington, have there been any signs of the alien ship I warned you about?"

Remington shook his head. "No Guardian, no vessel save yours has been spotted since your warning."

"How tha heck did we out run'em?" Bunnie had to ask.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Knuckles said turning only briefly to face her before speaking again to Remington. "Most of my…friends…need medical attention, and did you notify the Chaotix?"

Remington looked anxious. "Your…men…have been notified of the coming threat but please Guardian, they, as well as I, would like to know more of exactly _what_ we are to be facing."

Knuckles nodded. "I'll explain to you on the way, but first my friends."

"As you wish Guardian."

"How come?" Amy said out loud. "You all got treated by Doc Quack before we left."

Knuckles looked at her. "With all due to respect to your witch doctor-"

"Call him that again and I'll-"

"WITH all due respect to your good doctor, we can do a much better job of healing you with our equipment than you can."

The ESTs meanwhile, were looking darkly at Amy for talking back to their Guardian. Amy didn't notice, but she did accept Knuckles' true, if tactless words.

Entering a waiting vehicle (the EST being the few echidnas to actually have them) the group departed, Julie and Sally bumping shoulder to shoulder as they came into the craft together.

…

When arriving at the hospital all it took was the mere sight of Knuckles to get people to make way.

It didn't take long for Amy to realize that everyone was staring at them. What did take a minute for her to realize was _why_ they were staring at her. The fact that non-echidnas were an oddity to the island didn't cross her mind until she remembered that here _she_ was the foreigner. Amy normally liked the idea of being at the center of attention but not like this. Impressively she was able to bite her tongue to keep herself from giving a few dozen choice words at the innocent onlookers.

However, if the others were just being stared at, Bunnie was having invisible knives shot at her. People either took a step away from her in fear or a step forward in anger. Her extra large ears picked up several times the words 'Dark Legion' and 'murderer' whispered among the locals. Bunnie did her best to relax and not tense her body, the last thing she needed was to scare someone into attacking her.

Julie, of course, received much the same welcome as Bunnie, however having a connection to Knuckles did give one some standing. Plus few were dumb enough to bad mouth the lady friend of their precious Guardian. Knuckles of course didn't go out of his way to hunt down and harm people who talked ill of her of course, but given how people revered the Guardian in the first place, their own imaginations were enough to create the knowledge that he did. That, and the fact that Julie-Su's marksmanship was near legendary in the city was enough to keep most fools from trying to insult her from a distance.

Hershey had to admit: the echidna's hospital was a sight to behold. The place had near white everything, a lot of equipment she couldn't identify (but given how Hershey had only the most basic medical knowledge this shouldn't have been a surprise), and a sense of calm and order. True, it was completely missing the homey feeling that Doctor Quack's clinic had, but Hershey couldn't argue with how everything was just so, well, impressive. She had heard how Echidna doctors were miracle workers, but as a one-time mercenary Hershey knew better than to take such stories at face value, she had traveled all over selling her fighting skills to those who could pay them, and she had seen how reality could be seen differently by others, but also that the reality itself remained exactly the same regardless of how others saw it.

Since they were in the company of the Guardian they got the royal treatment instead of being made to wait in line with the people holding their own bleeding wounds closed and were escorted to a private ward with two of the EST outside the building and the other two outside the room while Remington stayed with Knuckles.

A patch was put on Hershey's bruised arm, she was told to take it off in an hour and the blood vessels underneath would be healed and the mess underneath would be cleaned up. They actually _asked_ if she wanted to keep the scars on her wrist. The doctors said that some people preferred to keep scars as reminders and keepsakes. Hershey, though, felt no such desire and said if they could remove them then go right ahead. Hershey watched in amazement while using what they called a 'dermal regenerator' and the scars sticking out on her fur dissolved.

Sally received several of the 'bruise be gone' patches, and her burn scars were banished the same as Hershey's. What was truly amazing was her broken hand. Securing the damaged limb in a circular machine, Sally watched on a monitor as the crushed bones mended perfectly, leaving her with a totally functional hand again in an hour! Cutting off the bandages Sally flexed it a few times; glad to have its use back.

Sally was the only Mobian there that knew the technology used to help them now had won the right to be used only after a tooth and nail fight by the echidna medical board only a year or two ago (no thanks to the Legion's well-meaning efforts).

But while Bunnie's bruises were treated in a flash, there was some clear miscommunication going on.

"Thanks fer tha help, doc." Bunnie said sincerely.

The doctor smiled helpfully taking hold of Bunnie's metal hand. "Certainly, now let's just cut off those fake limbs-"

Bunnie pulled back her robotic arm. "Are you flippin' crazy?!"

The good doctor looked confused. "We're only trying to help my dear."

"These here legs and arm are mine ya twit!" Bunnie barked. "They got roboticized!"

The doctor tilted his head in confusion. "What's robo-tized?"

Bunnie looked at the echidna in shook. How could anyone on Mobius possibly not know what _that_ was? Just how ignorant was the average echidna of the Robian War anyway?

Knuckles knew where this was going to lead. "Just leave them alone Doctor, that's an order."

The doctor bowed. "Yes Guardian. But madam, what is robo-tized?"

Bunnie told him, in crystal clear terms exactly what it was: the middle-aged echidna went pale and needed to go running to the nearest trash can to rid himself of his lunch.

Then the peace was shattered. "You keep away from me, you quacks! There's nothing wrong with me!" Amy was standing on top of her medi-bed swinging her mallet at any of the echidnas that got close to her.

One doctor was trying the all but forgotten sacred art once known as 'diplomacy.' "If you would just take these pills child, then I promise you will feel all better. I have a lollypop."

Wrong thing to say to this teenage girl. Amy flew into a tantrum. Knuckles was soooo tempted to sit back and watch Amy be put on personality-altering drugs, as was Sally on a subconscious level.

"Leave her be, her behavior is perfectly normal for Mobians of her age," Knuckles said.

Giving the ignorance of Mobian culture, this answer was accepted by the doctors and no longer feeling threatened, Amy got back her self-control.

"Would you like us to surgically correct your double-pupil Cyclopean eye deformity then?"

Three, two, one, we have blast off.

After dragging Amy away from the hospital, the lass still shouting vows to hunt down the doctor and his kin seven generations backwards and forwards and bludgeon them to death for daring to insult the beautiful Mobian hedgehog double-pupil eye, the group elected to go to EST HQ to better prepare for what was coming.

The building was a few stories tall and a couple below street level and was decidedly square in every sense of the word. It was more a fortress than a police station. Built for function rather than beauty, the insides were a picture of efficiency.

While normally the idea of foreigners being allowed inside the central security building was madness, Knuckles' say so was more than enough to grant them all free entry. (It was also enough to get them all free ice cream if they wanted, but to everyone's disappointment Knuckles declined.)

Echidnas in uniform walked and ran this way and that. Amy actually moved closer to her team mates least she accidentally get run over. While still not as fast as hedgehogs, echidnas made up for it by being the irresistible force in comparison to the immovable object.

If Bunnie had gotten an unwelcome feeling from the people in general, here she got death glares. Julie got a few too, but shrugged them off, being used to it and knowing it wasn't worth her time to react to them even though she was well aware that she could probably kill them all in the amount of time it took to blink an eye.

At a mass debriefing in the EST communication room, Knuckles and Sally told the EST everything they knew about the Order Knights and what the enemy was capable of. If the cops were scared by what they heard, the ESTs under Remington never showed it.

The depth of Remington's questions made Sally realize just how little they did know about the Order Knights' fighting prowess. However, what they did know was better than nothing, and on the plus side at least the heroes had superior numbers on their side, knew exactly how many of the enemy there were, and that traditional hand to hand combat would be next to useless. (With the exception of course of Bunnie, and Knuckles if he transformed again). Which meant distance fighting was their best option since it had looked like nearly all the Order Knights were designed for melee combat.

One plain EST stood up out of turn and said. "We will protect the people of Angel Island to the bitter end Guardian, as we always have."

"I see the dogs of the guardian remain ready to die at his beck and call," said a deceptively friendly female voice.

On one of the room's many video screens was the face of someone who inspired loathing for everyone who recognized her. The echidna woman was roughly six or seven years older than Julie-Su, however, except for her red fur color, she bore a stunning resemblance to her, even her visible cybernetics were in the same style.

"How did you get on this com-system Legionnaire?" Remington demanded, getting in the face of the screen's vid-camera.

The cyborg on the other end sneered. "It's truly amazing what you can do, with the right technology! (And the knowledge that the password to all your security is your wife's middle name.) Hello sister," the woman greeted Julie-Su. "Still not dead I see, want some help?"

"Lien!" Julie snarled at the vid-com image, pushing Remington curtly out of the way and causing him to accidentally plant his face in a nearby trash can. "What do you want sis, we're busy!"

"Just called to tell you not to worry about any invasion to our homeland, unlike _some _of us, the Legion is, and always will be, prepared for such inescapable events."

Julie-Su wasn't impressed. "What are you going on about you opportunistic self-serving power broker?"

"The Legion has launched our just-recently completed fleet of hover saucers to confront this menace. We were going to save them for the Guardian and his dogs, but this seemed a _tad_ more pressing. We are directing them along the most logical line of assault the ship is to have taken from its starting point."

Julie beat Remington to the EST chief's next question. "How the h*ll did you even _know_ there was a threat headed for the island at all, Lien-Da?"

The echidna chuckled. "Now come on sister, I can't go and tell you _everything_. I just wanted you to all know, how the Legion is going to save Angel Island and the people will love us while you were unable to do anything." She blew a raspberry at them.

Everyone looked accusingly at Bunnie, then at Julie of course. "Come _off_ it!" Knuckles finally snarled at them and their gaze was instantly averted.

"And did great gramps Dimitri agree to this?" Julie asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'm sure he'd approve, he's sooo tired most of the time, I don't want to interrupt him with minor concerns." Her loving concern couldn't have been more fake.

Julie felt her blood boil. Dimitri was ironically the only member of her family she remotely respected. "So how many of your opposers did you stick on the front wave to die while keeping your own supporters in the back to return as heroes?" She asked.

Lien-Da started, honestly thinking her strategy wasn't that transparent. "… First thing I'm doing when I'm Legion Master is removing that stupid 'live and let live' order that Dimitri has on you!"

Julie roared and slammed a fist on the console in front of her, denting it. "Bring it on big sister!"

Remington blandly stabbed a finger onto a button next to the com-screen, cutting the signal and the screen went black.

"Hey!" Julie snapped.

"Sorry," he said flatly. "We were getting off topic." He looked at the woman at the radar station. "Why the Aurora didn't we pick up these new toys of theirs?!"

The albino echidna sweated. "Yes, er, sir, we, it was, we picked up their signal, but they weren't headed towards the city, so I didn't think it was an immediate threat and thought it wasn't important to interrupt you, and we pick up air movement of theirs all the time that aren't a threat and-"

"We're to be alerted to _anything_ unnatural that enters Angel Island's airspace! You know that!"

"Yes sir! I'm sorry sir! I wasn't thinking! I apologize!" she stammered.

Remington rubbed his eyebrows. "You're suspended from com-duty until further notice. Report to the second infantry unit at once." He made a mental note that if he survived the day to go through the woman's record with a fine-toothed comb to find even the slightest inconsistency. It wouldn't be the first time the Legion had snuck a member inside the EST. But Remington also knew better than to jump to conclusions. Well, it didn't matter right now.

With the EST up and at arms, and the Legion apparently hoping to come out the heroes in this, to Knuckles' knowledge that left one group to have made ready. The Chaotix.

Originally a bunch of random drifters who had the bad luck of getting caught up in the Red Metal Sonic fiasco, (which was one of the few times Knuckles had encountered Robotnik without Sonic or any of the other Freedom Fighters in tow) they had more or less become friends, and with no where else to go, and figuring sitting tight with a local celebrity would be cool, had become the Chaotix. (They still hadn't forgiven Vector for blabbing that name to the media.) Officially they were supposed to be the Guardian's personal strike team. But while they did fight along side Knuckles regularly, and become the only non-echidnas in history to be recognized as citizens of Angel, Julie-Su had two words for them: "Lousy Freeloaders!"

They shared a single apartment below Knuckles and Julie-Su's rooms, and last night had been one of the precious few they hadn't been blaring music through out the humble building that Knuckles and the rest called home. Knuckles would have preferred to eat and sleep in the jungle, but Julie had refused to become the Jane to Knuckles' Tarzan, she preferred the concrete jungle.

While Knuckles _was_ worried about leaving Sally and the others alone, he had told Remington to see not so much as a hair was harmed on them in Knuckles' absence, and Knux knew that meant Remington would fight to the death to make sure they were safe in the meantime. While there was little sense in them breaking up since they had no idea when the Vengeance would appear, Knuckles had absolutely no intention of letting Sally meet Vector and the others in their natural environment.

And, there was something else Knuckles promised himself he wouldn't dare let Sally face for the world. Something Knuckles had secretly dreaded facing since Knuckles had returned to Angel Island. It frightened him to his core, and only his years of intense training of mind and body kept him from walking, nay, _running_ in the opposite direction and not looking back.

As Knuckles slipped into the apartment building, hoping to delay the confrontation as long as possible, he found the source of his greatest doubts and weaknesses waiting for them right in front of the elevator.

"Knuckles!" His mother!

Knux sweatdropped as his single ally, Julie, took a position behind him (traitor!), leaving him alone to face the onslaught.

The middle-aged echidna woman had fur as red as his with brown spines and head fur. Her locks were wrapped in long pieces of white cloth. Unlike some of the newer generation of female echidnas and mobians, she was fully dressed in a yellow dress robe.

"Hi mom," he squeaked timidly.

"Don't you 'hi mom' me! I was worried sick about you! What was the idea leaving the island without even telling your own mother?!"

"I told Julie," he weakly defended.

"Only because she caught you! Don't you think I worry enough about my son going off to fight an army of insane cyborgs to the death every other week? That every time I wonder if this will be the one? The one you don't come back from? The one where Julie or Remington will come to me and tell me my son is dead?!"

"… Great Grandpa Athair needed me." Not really a lie, after all, that was the _ultimate_ reason he had the dream in the first place.

"Oh… well, then I understand you needing to go in a hurry." Lara-Le, for reasons beyond Knuckles' comprehension, respected and honored her grandfather-in-law fully and tolerated none of Knuckles' ill words towards him. "But that still doesn't excuse you trying to leave without sending a message."

"I forgot, I figured every second counted."

She frowned at him and put a hand to his forehead, causing him to flush in embarrassment. "That isn't like you at all Knuckles, are you eating right? Are you staying up late and waking up early again? Have you been eating nothing but grapes again?" Grapes were to Knuckles as chilidogs were to Sonic, he was hopelessly addicted.

Knuckles was even redder than normal, fully aware that Julie was snickering at him behind his back. "Mom!"

"Well, I'll leave you two alone." Julie inched around the pair and backed up into the elevator, tapping onto the control panel for the correct floor.

"Julie!" Knuckles cried desperately, reaching out his hand with hope beyond hope that Julie would save him as the double doors opened. She stepped in, and they closed, leaving Knuckles to fend for himself against his parent fussing over him until her motherly instinct was satisfied.

It had struck Knuckles as odd that Julie wanted to come along, since she normally made it a point to avoid Vector. Julie-Su however did say she had something she'd been saving for a special occasion and figured this was as good a time as any to break it out. She refused to say anything else on the subject. She knew how he'd likely react.

Once on the right floor, Julie steeled herself, she so didn't want to do this. But for the survival of the floating island, she was willing to make the sacrifice. Coming to the correct room number, (she could have found it by sound alone), she knocked on the door, waited a few seconds, then pounded on it until it started to crack!

The door slid open to reveal a Mobian bumblebee roughly one and a half feet tall, with orange colored mammalian features as opposed to insect eyes. He wore a yellow sleeveless jacket with a flight helmet that had holes for his antennas. Charmy Bee. Five years old chronologically, and in insect years just over fifteen, but you couldn't ever tell this from how he acted. Julie remembered one time Charmy had drank an entire can of beer on a dare and had to have his stomach pumped.

The hyperactive bee zipped this way and that, checking Julie out, having her here in their homestead was a rare occurrence indeed. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air Julie stepped inside.

The place was a mess, as always, the ultimate result of multiple males living in the same room! How the flipping heck could there possibly be this much dirty laundry when males wore next to nothing?! Nothing seemed to be straight, and plenty seemed to have not been moved since the four had moved in!

The clearest sign that this was Vector's home was the fact that there were more record players here than there were records! And that rap _had_ to be considered a sin somewhere in the sacred text of any faith! The only thing that seemed to get any regular use was the work-out equipment in the corner. Yep! This was Mighty and Vector's home all right!

Julie was just glad she wouldn't have to see the kitchen while she was here. It would be more than her hardened Legionnaire resolve could handle.

"Julie! It's Julie! Hey guys, its Julie!" Charmy zipped about the room, declaring in his high-pitched voice for anyone who hadn't bothered to look at the front door when it opened.

A rough but sincerely polite voice came from thin air in the middle of the room. "Greeting Miss Su, to what do we owe the honor of your singular visit?" Julie looked as a chameleon that chose to show his scales as purple faded into view (she had no idea if that was his natural color or not). He had his eyes closed and was in a perfect meditative position; he was also sitting on the ceiling in direct contradiction to gravity. He of course wasn't wearing anything, after all, just because a chameleon could make themselves invisible didn't mean they could make everything they were wearing impossible to see too.

Espio The Chameleon. Silent, practical, yet often indifferent, he himself was actually from a long line of ninjas. He was decidedly the member of the Chaotix with the most common sense. He opened his eyes, which were bright yellow. He stood up, er, down, on the ceiling before, 'letting go', flipping through the air, and landing squarely on the filthy carpet.

"We have a dozen or so uninvited guests coming to pay Angel Island a visit. Lien-Da sent about a dozen Legion grunts to try and hog the glory. I don't precisely have faith they're gonna win hands down. Knux brought some buddies from Knothole for the welcome party, and has got Remington and his boys up and at 'em. So that just leaves you yahoos."

"I see," Espio replied calmly, as always.

"That doesn't sound so hard." Vector the Crocodile. A Terran sized green reptile with a yellow belly and brown eyes never caught without his headphones and walkman belt, topped off with a fake gold chain necklace making him look like a bad copy of a rap artist (he insisted it made him look tough). He was known for listening to his music more than his head. Like a couple of beta wolves Julie and Vector regularly fought over which of them was in charge when Knuckles wasn't around to lead the group personally. Why the other Chaotix went along with the idea of him being in charge of the rest of them was anyone's guess. "So you couldn't handle things yourself and you just had to come to us for help."

"You're a necessary evil Vector, Knuckles needs you sorry lot cause we need everyone we can get our hands on since these monsters headed our way are in the big leagues."

"Red Metal Sonic?" Charmy queried, a little scared at the idea.

Julie placed her hand flat against the air and twisted it about a tad. "Meh, a tad below that."

"Well, as long as it's not AS bad as Red Metal Sonic." Charmy smiled and nodded much to the groans of everyone.

"Let me at' em, I'll be sure to try and leave some for the rest of you." Everyone looked at

Mighty The Armadillo as he cracked his knuckles. Following current male Mobian trends he stuck with a pair of gloves and shoes. His near indestructible shell was bright red while his body was a mix of black and yellow. He and Sonic had actually met once when Sonic had found himself on the wrong side of a Robotnik prison cell with a couple other Mobians and staged a breakout, but after that they had gone their separate ways.

Mighty was strong alright, stronger than Vector in spite of the sheer difference in their size ("If you trained more than you listen to your bad rap music." They would tell the croc.), but while hardly the stereotypical muscle head, the only thing greater than his strength was his own opinion of it, much like Sonic and his speed. Once he got started there was no convincing him that there could be anyone stronger than him. Just as Sonic was declared the fastest thing alive, Mighty styled himself the strongest thing alive. Whether this was true or not, it remained that Mighty knee-jerked at anyone who dared to tell him otherwise. So as it was, everyone decided to let Mighty's bravado statement go unchallenged.

"So what's the 411? Knuckles wan' us to play support again or be the

welcome mat?" Did Charmy really have to use the words 'welcome mat?'The thing people stepped on?

"I think you'll be in the mix of things with Knuckles and me, but I have something I want you guys to have for this."

"What is it? What is it?" Charmy asked eagerly.

Julie knew she was going to regret this next part. "It's in my room." All the boys except Espio 'Oooh'ed.

"Don't get any ideas! Normally I wouldn't allow you guys to even set foot in there! So don't touch a thing unless I tell you to! I'd ask you to wash up first but I know that's a hopeless cause so come along already." Espio decided to wisely leave out that he had been in Julie's room (along with everyone else's) undetected repeatedly as part of keeping his ninja skills sharp, having taken one of her forgotten back issues of Play Girl with him in the room.

Charmy of course flew along happily, while Espio followed suit, Mighty had to drag the paranoid Vector along for the ride.

A couple minutes later, and feeling like Gandalf letting the Witch King enter Gondor, Julie unlocked her door and lead the Chaotix inside.

"Thought it would be more pink." Vector blurted.

"Shut it," Julie retorted lowly.

Julie's apartment was Spartan and functional and had a military neatness about it. It was just about as much fun as she was. There were a couple pictures on the dresser of herself and Knuckles on their different outings and a dartboard with her sister's face on it (only because the EST told her she couldn't use her room as her own personal shooting range with Lien-Da's face on the bull's eye). Any plants that had come with the place had died of dehydration and been thrown out long ago. There was also a scale skin purse made from non-sentient reptile skin that she never carried with her but kept as a personal stab at Vector.

Julie drank in the look on Vector's face when he spotted it, much the same as a human seeing a gorilla hand ashtray.

"So what have you got up your sleeve?" Mighty asked.

Julie didn't answer at once; instead she went to her walk-in closet and opened the open folding doors.

The Kingdom of Acorn had a generations-old taboo on guns, one that Sally had with a heavy heart broke she began arming the Freedom Fighters with lasers. But that didn't mean she liked them. She had hoped with Robotnik's end that they could smelt the guns along with his robots. Sadly, the laws of things that are state that those who would abuse a gun are the ones who most often keep one, and those who refuse to touch one are the ones best suited to posses one. And Sally was reminded of this social reality no more than at this time.

Julie-Su of course knew a more basic truth. People would always find another way to kill each other no matter what weapons you stripped them of. So you could either get rid of your own weapons and feel better about yourself and die, or be prepared to protect that which is dear to you.

Julie's closet held enough firepower to overthrow some European countries. There were weapons of every type and for people of all sizes and species. It looked less like a closet and more like a bunker for someone ready to go at it during the end of nations.

Julie leaned up against the guns and rocket launchers, looking totally in her element: weapons on one side, ammo on the other. Everyone just stared.

"Er, nice noisemakers robo-locks," Vector managed to get out.

"I just thought you guys would all like some early Christmas gifts I managed to borrow from some relatives of mine, briefcase breath." 'No family in the Legion,' what a lie that had turned out to be. Who'd have thought she'd be directly related to Dimitri himself, and was the half-sister of Lein-Da. Of course for those with ambition, more relatives meant more competition, plus there was the little fact Lien-Da loathed their father for marrying another woman after the death of Lien-Da's mother, and loathed the memory of Julie's mother even more so. So after their father's death, Lien-Da had placed her little sister with another set of parents. If the day hadn't come when Julie had come to the ruins of her old stomping grounds, and met that old man, Julie today still wouldn't know the truth. Of course, once Dimitri came back into the picture Lien-Da found herself powerless to actively seek harm against her own sister.

However, much to Julie's own surprise, it turned out that she still had family willing to do her favors. They always remained unknown though.

"Achoo!" Dimitri managed to sneeze though his face was nearly all metal plating.

"Feeling well ancestor?" Lien-Da asked, hoping this would be it and he'd finally die.

"Someone must be thinking of me," he was able to moan, sniffing and wiping his snout.

"That's just a cliché myth," Lien-Da retorted, making a mental note that she'd have to steal a sample of the flu virus from the medical bay and see if her ancestor wasn't immune to it.

"So, any of you guys here know anything about firearms?" Julie asked. Vector and Espio raised her hands. 'Figures.'

"Alright, I'll run Mighty through the basics, Vector you teach Charmy everything you know, Espio, you run Vector through the basics."

"But I raised my hand!" Vector protested.

"I'm not blind. And I'm not letting you even touch the ammo until Espio tells me you can hold the thing without accidentally shooting one of us with it."

"Don't ya mean, 'without accidentally shooting yourself'?"

"No," Julie said flatly.

"Heh, you got burned Vector!" Charmy quipped.

"Be quiet, short stuff!" The croc snapped his jaws angrily.

Julie said, "As much as I like watching you get yours Vector, we don't have time to chit-chat. We don't know how long we have before our guests show up so let's get to it!"

"Understood," Espio bowed.

"I don't need any guns!" Mighty protested, folding his arms. "They're a blight upon the world and-"

"Save it," Julie said with no humor in her voice.

It took Knuckles at least an hour to pry his loving mother's hands off him and convince her he wasn't about to die on his feet. He loved her, he really did, but he just wished she'd stop treating him like he was still her baby or something. If Knuckles only knew, that wish was beyond impossible for any loving parent. Knuckles wondered if she ever had a child with that other man if she would shift her motherly attention off of Knux. Knuckles surprised himself when he realized that he wasn't sure he actually wanted her to in spite of what he had just thought.

He kissed and hugged his mom good-bye, promising that things would work out okay.

He picked up Julie and the others at her room and was stunned when he found the Chaotix and Julie's weapon cache. He opened his mouth, shut it, then opened it again, before finally realizing they might not have time to argue with Julie's methods and decided if he had to have a girl mad at him at least it could be his ex opposed to his current. He knew how Sally and her people felt about guns in general; he just hoped Sally was tolerant enough to accept Julie's 'surprise.'

In spite of herself, Amy really wished she could do some sightseeing as long as she was here. While she had little love for the locals, she was still impressed by the city as a whole and wanted to see the sights. However, they had an enemy coming who they didn't even know when it was going to show up!

She still wished she knew how they had gotten past the Vengence, she was struck by the idea of monsters hiding on the underside of the Special but knew that was dumb; they would have attacked by now if that was the case. From what everything everyone had said, these Knights didn't play stealth.

Remington, prone to following the spirit of Knuckles' instructions rather than the lettering, showed her a computer terminal and what he called the 'internet', which she supposed was a crazy fad among teenagers of both genders for echidnas.

Amy checked out some of the 'sites' listed on the main directory page, but found most of the articles too slanted to read. And as for the artwork she found, well, she was curious, (as any girl her age would be) but since they didn't have any foxes or hedgehogs her interest didn't last long. At last she found out what a message board was, found Remington's user account, and ended up getting him banned from several anti-non-echidna web sites. Feeling she had explored the grand total of what the network had to offer, Amy decided to practice with her combat hammer and crossbow.

What truly surprised Amy was that none of the EST officers had any idea what a crossbow was! They looked at her distance weapon as if it was some strange device from another world. Taking off the explosive tips, (knowing she couldn't hope to find replacements here) Amy did several practice shots, retrieving the arrows each time. One of the EST told her that they didn't have a music hall, mistaking Amy's crossbow for an instrument. Seeing his face when her shot hit the targets with her arrows was almost as satisfying as the expression on the woman who told Amy they didn't have a 'kid's shooting range' before seeing Amy's bolts repeatedly hit the Bullseye.

Hershey on the other hand was able to find a practice pistol without too much trouble. While firing off shots and imagining the dummies were the Knights she noticed several of the men there looking at her oddly. Okay, that wasn't so strange giving where she was, what did throw her off was some of them were downright ogling her! It was only later Hershey learned that while female Echidnas were allowed most of the same freestyle rights as males, it was considered taboo for a female echidna to show her chest in public. Hershey didn't know whether to call that sexist or just plain weird.

And while Bunnie's machine limbs kept the males at a distance as always, Hershey learned from the chitter-chatter of a couple of female echidnas that even though Bunnie's purple jumpsuit did cover the right places, since it didn't hide the shape underneath it was just as bad. Ugh! Hershey wished these anteaters would make up their minds.

Sally herself had hoped she could upgrade Nicole's software as long as she was here, only to find that Nicole's programming was easily more advanced than any of the computers there! It was all most of the machines here could do just to keep up with Sally's palmtop. Nicole was ten years old! How could the EST be that behind the times!? Or was Nicole ahead of times? But that just didn't make sense. Then Sally remembered how allergic echidnas were to change.

Still. Why should Nicole be _more_ advanced then? If they got out of this alive Sally would make it a point to ask Knuckles about it.

Bunnie of course had her own troubles. She had to explain what a roboticizer was at least six times. And a couple didn't even believe her. These skeptical officers just thought the Legion was recruiting outsiders now, adding to their perverted nature. But Bunnie hadn't been lying to Sally before; she had learned how to not let people who decided the value of her soul based on her body parts bother her. It wasn't her business if they realized she was telling the truth or not.

When Knuckles (did he look cleaner?) and Julie returned with the Chaotix, Sally honestly gasped at what she saw. Yes she had seen the EST's weapons plain as day, but it was different seeing as those were supposed to be Knuckles inner circle all carrying guns and other killing tools.

Sally told the Chaotix what she thought of their toys. The Chaotix all pointed to Julie, and Julie said what _she_ thought of what Sally thought. Needless to say, this was where Knuckles made himself scarce into one of the conveniently placed employee's lounges.

With Sally and Julie engaged in a fire-breathing contest, a question occurred to Amy. While she hardly trusted him, Knuckles was the only one who could answer it. Leaving the fighting pair behind, Amy asked of the Guardian in the next room. "Should we really have left everyone back in Knotehole? What about Dulcy, Antoine, Quack's saved family, Rotor and all the rest? Couldn't these knights have just doubled back on us and attacked Knothole again?"

"You have nothing to worry about," Knuckles responded, his arms crossed, not moving his eyes at all. "The Order Knights, or rather, Riahta, weren't interested in Knothole, not really, it was just recess for the Knights, playtime before being told to do their real homework."

"How do you know?" Amy asked, still not quite convinced.

"Soni, er, Lightspeed and Tempest could have finished me off when I was down, they didn't, but only because Riahta _made_ them leave at that moment, recess time was up. No, Angel Island is their real target."

"And what's so special about it that they could want?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "If you have to ask that, then you really are a ditz."

"Hey!"

"Guardian!" An EST officer burst into the room. "There's been sensor contact in Angel Island's airspace."

Both looked at him. "Is it the enemy?" Knuckles asked.

"Guardian, we assume so since we only know of two possible-"

'Ugh, oh right.' "Do you know _which_ enemy?"

"No Guardian, Captain Remington only ordered me to inform you once contact was made."

'And I don't believe in false alarms.' Knuckles thought _silently_ to himself, as in not speaking out loud.

Knuckles left without even asking Amy if she wanted to come. He doubted the girl was that oblivious.

A minute later in the com-room with the Chaotix and Freedom Fighters, a replacement console jockey was trying to make sense of what the long-range scanning equipment was telling him. The entire EST was on yellow alert.

"Well, confirmation?" Remington asked.

"One moment sir, cross referencing data, the contact matches the new legion ships."

"How many?"

The com officer was stunned silent for a few moments before breathing, "…One."

"One?"

"Its flight pattern is erratic… looks like it's heavily damaged, sir."

Julie allowed herself a smug look. "Look's like Lien's toys weren't all she made them out to be."

"Did, they do it?" Hershey wondered. Was Lightspeed dead already?

"Either that, or they cut their losses and ran," Knuckles said in his matter-of-fact tone.

"Only one?!" Lien-Da declared in total disbelief. This was not according to plan.

"Yes madam," said the Legion Com-officer, the console plugged directly into his right eye. "Only one of our units detected, and it's heavily damaged."

At least she could hope the pilot was one of her loyalists. Then she could count on a tale being spun to her advantage.

Soon enough the saucer was in visual ranger of the EST's equipment. It was not an impressive sight.

The silver disk was broken, battered, damaged, barely keeping itself in the air, wobbling as it crawled through the sky. The glass bubble on top was cracked; the pilot almost slumped at his control. Through it all though, the saucer still managed to give all the buildings an impressive breath, a testament to the pilot for managing to get this far.

Watching on their monitors as it neared the city's landing pad, Remington ordered his subordinates, "Bring the illegal technology back to base once the ship lands and take the pilot alive for questioning."

"Yes sir!" The EST lieutenants buzzed with activity.

Knuckles had other concerns however. "Any sign of the enemy behind the Dark Legion ship at all?" Knuckles asked, throwing some echidnas off still with the idea of the words 'Dark Legion' and 'enemy' being separate.

"None whatsoever Guardian, the Dark Legion weapon is the only thing airborne on our scopes."

"This doesn't make any sense," Sally said aloud. "Where are they?"

"Better question," Julie-Su said. "Why the Chaos would a Legionnaire, with a trashed ship go the extra mile just to get caught by you lot?"

Everyone's eyes shot open in alarm at Julie's words. (Except Charmy and Amy.)

Remington yelled into a com-mike. "Warning! All units upgrade to orange alert at once!"

"Sir! Multiple unknown target locks on Legion unit!"

"What!" Remington barked. "Who gave the order!"

"They aren't ours sir!"

"Legion?"

"No sir!" On the top of every major building in the city, a hidden anti-air craft unit rose into view, the inside of the cannon barrels glowing before, "Weapon discharge confirmed!"

"Treachery!" Lien-Da accused at the monitor. "What a shameless way to achieve one's goals!"

Even those loyal to her, including her grunt Xenin, rolled their eyes at this statement.

"This was your operation Lien," Dimitri gasped, "Any of our people who are dead are your responsibility."

The surprise anti-air weapons fired again, and again, creating a tune of laser cannon fire. However, they never hit the Legion ship, instead they hit thin air that shook, bled, and burned under the relentless barrage. The Legion ship's image dissolved, replaced by the much larger form of the Vengeance. The monster's shadow was cast over the city streets below, the innocent populace taking this as their signal to run for cover, certain the Legion had created a new super death machine to topple their paradise. But though they were all rightfully afraid, not once did they doubt their Guardian would protect them, as he always did.

A hastily cast protective sphere popped into existence around the dark ship, deflecting the laser cannon attack. However, the damage had been done, and the deadly craft groaned as it began its controlled crash landing, still reaching ever closer to its ultimate and true goal.

…

"An illusion," Knuckles breathed out. "On that scale, incredible."

"Stop the yakkin' and let's get walkin'!" Bunnie yelled.

"Red Alert! Red Alert! All units scramble! Prepare for immediate combat!" Remington grabbed an anti-cyborg assault rifle he kept under the control desk along with an ammo belt.

…

The horror faltered, trying to stay airborne as long as it could, this choice costing it and people dearly as it could not rise above the skyrise pad and smashed through it along with several of the top floors. The Freedom Fighter Special, still on top, tilted, slid, and fell downwards to the street below, smashing into it and fuel exploding, sending concrete flying everywhere.

…

"The Special!" Amy cried, seeing the disaster unfold on the screens.

"There goes our ticket home," Hershey observed surprising everyone who had pretty much forgotten she was there.

Sally looked her. "You were planning on leaving early?"

Hershey narrowed her eyes in a predatory look at the Vengeance. "No…not really."

…

The Vengeance crashed, like the beast shot down it was, the protective barrier that had saved it shattering as it hit the ground, its power reserves spent.

The mysterious anti-air weapons all had a minimum range and couldn't hope to aim at anything at ground level or close up. Now that the Vengeance was no longer airborne, they were unable to aim at it. Their role in this battle had come to its close.

Riahta had dispelled the false image, diverting the power he had been using to maintain the lie to create a protective barrier around the ship, preventing any more damage. However, the injuries to the Vengeance would take a greater amount of time to regenerate than the hole this world's blasted Knuckles had made in its side. Thankfully the ship would only have to heal itself so much, he was so close, this was it, now his plans would come together, and he would have everything he and his masters, wanted.

He shot a look at his Order Knights. "Protect the Vengeance! Protect me! And search this city until you find the island's heart!"

"Yes sir!" They responded together, racing with all possible speed to the outside. The side of the Vengeance opened up like an injury all its own, spilling out the Knights in its wake like parasites.

"Er, that is," Lien-Da sweated, seeing the horrors coming out of the living machine thing thanks to their spy cameras. "I think our part in these events just came to its close. Let us withdraw from the situation for now and see how they work out."

A couple Legionnaires looked at each other disapprovingly. Lien-Da's brash move had cost her the same amount of support she had been hoping to claim. Elderly Dimitri just snorted at her cowardice in disgust.

And so the EST, The Chaotix, and the Freedom Fighters raced to meet the invaders head-on, determined not to allow the evil to get far from the Vengeance's crash site nor let the monsters get a shot at the hapless civilian population.

Sally had to ask, remembering what Quack had said before they left for Angel. "Knuckles, can you fight? After transforming without the emeralds in Knothole?"

"I can fight well enough. Besides, if the Guardian, the symbol of order and safety didn't show his face when Angel Island was being invaded by unnatural horrors, these guys might wonder if they were being sent to die."

"And if the Guardian dies in battle? They lose all hope and wait to die?"

Knuckles waved her off. "Naw. That's where they swear bloody, violent revenge upon my killer or killers, vowing not to rest until the slayers of the Guardian lay dead at their feet, talked it over grapes and tacos with Remington one day."

"Oh…Any chance of you being able to transform again without taking the chaos emeralds from their resting place?"

"I have no more clue how I did that than you do. I vote against counting on it."

"Then stay behind."

"Not here, Sally. Forget it. If I can stand and I can punch then I can fight. And I'm not about to ditch everyone on Angel just cause I was a little winded."

...

Remington gave orders even as he ran through the EST building. "Unit-1 shall engage the enemy directly! Miss Acorn's group and the Chaotix will follow in immediately! The Guardian and myself will fight at our own digression. Unit-2 will lay down cover fire for engaging forces! Unit-3 will concentrate on the evacuation of all non-combat personnel from the area! Remember these aren't the Dark Legion we're fighting! Use anti-cyborg weapons indiscreetly but assume nothing until a target is terminated!"

Knuckles remembered how his great-grandpa had said that Knux couldn't let these things that used to be Sonic and Tails die. Why did he have to start honoring that old man's requests now?

"Remington…" Knuckles said, his voice calm, knowing Remington would hear it without fail.

"Yes, Guardian." Remington gave Knux his undivided attention.

In spite of Sally's hopes, Knuckles knew he had balance it with realism. "Your men are to eliminate the others with full prejudice. But the blue and orange ones are to be disabled and taken alive."

Remington's eyes filled with dismay. "Guardian… you ask the impossible of me."

Remington hadn't even said that when Knux told him to give Julie a second chance. "…Just try, that's all I'll ask."

Remington kept all his civility while speaking but he still spoke as a seasoned solider. "I've never tried Guardian; I have either done, or not done. I do not believe in 'try'."

Knuckles spoke in his best 'Guardian' tone. "You are not to engage them; you'll have plenty to handle with the others."

Remington bowed. Knuckles hated it when he did that. "In spite of everything, I shall do as you command Guardian. My officers will focus on the other enemy operatives."

…

The motley crew of the Chaotix managed to outpace any of the EST officers as they raced towards the crash site. Charmy flying, Espio running on walls, and Mighty and Vector just making forceful headway.

"Fight, fight, fight! We're all gonna fight!" Charmy cheered happily. "We're gonna beat the bad guys and save the day!"

"This should be interesting." Vector cracked his knuckles and beat his thick tail on the ground.

"You guys just try to keep up," Mighty smirked.

Espio thought expressionlessly, 'better thought a fool and be silent then speak and remove all doubt.'

…

Sally had made sure Nicole was still with her before following the massive defense group. She always took the small machine into battle and today would be no different. True, she doubted there would be any mainframes to hack, and this battle was going to be no stealth fight, but she doubted there was any place she could put it here safely at EST HQ.

Spotting Hershey, Sally took hold of the black cat's wrist, getting her attention. She skipped pretending she wanted to ask something else. "Hershey, I need to know that you don't intend to die out there."

Hershey looked right into Sally's eyes; that was an improvement. "Princess, while I doubt I shall ever be able to forgive myself for allowing Geoffrey to do what he did, nor shall I ask for forgiveness. But I shall do my duty as you command me to," This from a 'mercenary.' "And there is something else I've realized that I can fight for."

This was an unexpected turn of events. "Which is?"

Hershey shook her weapon in the air. "Revenge!"

Julie put a hand on Hershey's shoulder before running out, giving a short, "I like you."

Sally sweat dropped. 'Whatever gets you up in the morning, I suppose.'

Hershey in the face of her guilt had fallen into soul crushing despair. Now, for the sake of her own sanity, her mind shifted to the emotions of burning anger, loathsome hatred, and sweet vengeance.

Then it sunk in exactly what Hershey had just said. Sally shouted, "Hershey!"

"Yes?"

Sally forgot herself for a moment and asked, "Please…don't kill them; they have to be in there somewhere. Maurice. Miles."

Despite Sally's submissive tone, or perhaps because of it, Hershey was moved, and didn't snicker at Sonic's ludicrous true name as Knuckles undoubtedly would have if he been there to hear it. "I…I won't try to make you lose yours too." Hershey bowed, and in spite of everything, Sally knew she was sincere.

Now Sally just needed to try and tell everyone else that! She called, "Knuckles!"

He had heard. "Already on it with Remington!"

…

Assuming correctly that they would be taking Remington's transport to greet their unwanted guests, Bunnie easily kept pace with Amy in the large group.

"Amy-girl, 're ya sure ya can handle et out dere?" Bunnie asked, ignoring the looks the EST continued to give her as they realized the rabbot would be fighting alongside them.

The hedgehog shot her a dangerous look. "Don't you _dare_ get started with me! I'm as much a Freedom Fighter as you and don't you forget it!"

Amy thought of what was ahead: the screaming, the shattering, so small. 'Sorry, not this time.' Amy mentally spat at the dark memories. She didn't have time for doubts or to be afraid. Plus, her Miles was out there, trapped in the body of one of those things. She had to save him. And that was enough to have the monsters in her closet sit in the backside where they belonged.

"All right Amy," _If you're ready for this then let's find out._

Unlike some, Bunnie had no internal doubts going through her head. She had subdued her inner demons years ago. She was what she was: Half Mobian. Half Robian. She couldn't escape what she had, but how she used it was her own choice. She was going to protect those close to her, and the innocent lives in those monsters' wake. And if push came to shove, beat those traitors into pulp!

…

Julie had no doubts, unlike Sally, that Knuckles could take care of himself. Just as she had no doubt she could take care of herself. She smirked at Sally's little faith. While Julie didn't buy into the chaos mojo as much as the regular population, she had seen Knuckles fight, and that was enough. She herself had only managed to get a square hit on Knuckles once. Not bothering to check her double barrel blaster or her other weapons, Julie joined the other Chaotix outside, Remington's transport waiting for her.

…

_'Kragok! You moron!' Julie-Su thought as she ran as fast as she could out of the Legion base as it fell apart in flames. 'Idiot. Idiot.' How had that half-wit managed to become Legion Master in the first place? The paranoid nutcase had actually set the base to self destruct when the Guardian, (his name was Knuckles wasn't it?) had shown up to enforce the archaic technophobic taboo on the populace of echidna culture who just wanted to live differently and yet didn't want to give up their home in the process. The Guardian had gotten through their defenses, and had tackled Kragok one-on-one. Julie didn't know if Kragok was still alive and honestly couldn't bring herself to care._

_When Kragok had hit The Big Red Button, everyone had known it was time to run for it. It was every echidna for themselves. Heading in the most direct route possible for the closest exit, Julie saw a flash of red, for a second she thought the fire had reached the exit already. But this was no fire, it was him, the Guardian, the one had done all this! _

_She saw him make tracks outside just as she was planning to. Split between waiting for him to be gone a safe distance or getting clear of the blast for about a hundredth of a second, Julie went after him._

_The grassy landscape didn't give her much to hide behind before the explosion hit, so she settled for laying flat against the ground, hands over her ears and her mouth open._

_And just like that, it was gone. Stupid Kragok._

_Wondering how she was going to get back to the others, and wondering if she had to hurry, getting back to being treated like dirt by Kragok and Lien-Da. Still, it was her home. That was when she saw him, _him_! The Guardian! Should she run? Should she go and face him? However, something drew her to him. The way he just stood there. So calm and collected. _

_She had to get a closer look. He might have killed Kragok, and Julie didn't know whether to kill him or thank him for that. Still, she had to get closer, to get in every detail of him. To look into his eyes, to see into the eyes of the one she knew was her enemy. Closer…closer._

_WACK! Block! Yow! This guy might be named Knuckles but he sure could kick!_

_"What? Some no-faced grunt looking to avenge their mighty leader?"_

_"As if!" Julie spat._

_She ducked the punch that came next, taking her hood off with it. Those fists were as fast as lightning!_

_"Alright, where did you friends go off to little-" I looked up at him. "Boy?"_

_"No, not really!" She landed a punch straight into his jaw. "Just what IS it with guys all thinking all women are made of glass?" The cyborg spat. "I mean seriously, subtract some upper body strength and you think all ladies have Osteogenesis Imperfecta." And she had her chance, but looking at that face, those eyes, she couldn't do it. She had to understand him utterly, to know why he did what he did. She had to._

…

"Julie, you ready?" Knuckles asked her.

Julie's eyes narrowed in a predatory look. "Let's do this."

Knuckles smirked, "That's my Julie."

The EST transports moved in formation towards the city's main street, where the dark ship had crash-landed. The machines were pushed to their limit; their enemy had already disembarked from their ship. There were no EST in the immediate area but plenty of civilians and major businesses, the sooner they got there the less people had to die.

In the transports, moving at their maximum speed, Remington gave his last pre-battle orders. "Arrival at crash site in T-minus one minute and fifty seconds. Range of enemy weapons unknown so all units remain alert for immediate preemptive fire from enemy! Units will commence with operation immediately after drop off. And good skill and good luck to you all!" He slapped a fist to his heart. "For the Island!"

"For the Island!" the EST grunts and Knuckles shouted in unison, the latter slightly out of sync due to his lack of military training.

"If you want to stay inside and play Tetris on your palmtop, then go right ahead." Julie 'offered' to the good princess.

"I can fight as well as you, and just because I hate weapons doesn't mean I don't know how to use them," Sally said coldly.

Julie smirked and kept up her condescending tone. "Heh, if you say so."

"Less bark, more lock and load!" Remington snapped at them.

Julie was perfectly calm, this was her element, this was where she belonged, and she wouldn't be pushed aside by some royal brat. Julie's understandable jealousy was a mix of having to face this 'old flame' of her other half and worry that because this girl had just lost her boyfriend Sally might try to rekindle her old relationship as a result. While it's the common belief that males are territorial, women could be just as possessive, if not more.

"Start the show! Here we go!" Charmy cheered.

"Will you be serious." Said a black furred echidna curtly.

"You're wasting time Mr." Mighty said.

"My NAME is Jacobson." The EST spat.

"Orders Understood," Hershey said to Remington darkly, an odd contrast to her self-destructive attitude earlier that day.

…

The crash site looked less like a bomb crater and more like a set of claws had been raked across the city's backside, ending with the Vengeance lying prone on the city street, having smashed through the Great Avenue into a large public square.

The Knights were already out and already sweeping the area of any trouble, following with a detailed but classic search pattern.

This isn't to say the Knights were mindlessly attacking anything that moved. Nor where they blowing up everything in sight simply because it was there. After all, when you have resources you can't regenerate, you can't waste them on collateral damage. However, it was also incorrect to say that the Knights were going out of their way to not harm non-combatants or any precious work of public art that happened to be in their way.

Whatever they wanted, the EST wasn't about to let them have it.

…

It was late morning when Special arrived at Angel Island. The Mobian's hospital stay had ended around one PM. Breakfast and lunch had been water and power bars all around. (Knuckles didn't believe in culinary showcasing). It was two PM when Knuckles had 'encountered' his mother.

Now it was three thirty five and forty seven seconds. It was Monday, and as many people would tell you this was the worst day of the week. For the EST though, it was just another day on the job.

The first Echidna (brown fur) of Squad One came running out of the transport screaming a battle cry. An arm-length needle went into his skull between the eyes and stuck out the other side, killing him at once.

His name had been Jamie, Son of James: he had loved jazz. Now he was the first EST casualty.

The next two echidnas (both reds), Eric Son of Edward, and Rita-Fae, instead of going in a straight line towards the enemy split to both sides, leaving a trail of near misses from laser and projectile in their wake before they both rolled onto the ground, finding what cover they could behind trash cans and sculptures. Other members of their team were pinned down inside the ship by the purple female machine firing the spikes.

Remington promised that if he survived this day he would have the fool who had his or her transport open, facing an enemy of unknown firepower, lined up and shot!

Remington's transport, on the other hand, opened facing the opposite side of the enemy and he, the Guardian, the Freedom Fighters, and the Chaotix, fanned out, just as group two got into position and began to lay down cover fire, taking the attention for the moment off group one's transport.

To the Knights, the EST's heavy-duty anti-cyborg rounds and high end lasers felt rather like bee stings. Lots of bee stings. Stinging repeatedly in the same spots. But how? Their armor was infinitely stronger than the armor Robotnik had worn in his final death match with Sonic! How could it penetrated by mere bullets?! Bullets existed just to get bounced off their armor followed by the shooters futilely throwing their guns at them, just like in most monster movies!

The Knights would show them what happened to those who dared not to do as they were supposed to in this story.

Switching on the comm. link in his helmet, Remington split off from the group, keeping low to the ground and heading towards one of the local businesses whose front had been shattered from the Vengeance's impact. The sounds of explosions and projectile fire from both his troops in groups one and two and return fire from the Knights covered his motions.

Not going into battle screaming cries for revenge, and taking only one look at him and the rest of the group, Hershey did the same in the opposite direction without a word to her teammates.

To deal with the constant fire and grenades from group two, Riahta mentally commanded Tempest to fly over the first line of enemies and have one of his two uber knights slaughter the second line of echidnas. Tempest obeyed, and in a blur flew over the heroes and the first line.

Amy balked as she saw the metal fox speed overhead. "Miles?" She blinked for a few helpless seconds before screaming, "Miles!" She ran in the opposite direction of the Vengeance, towards where the Knight had flown.

"Amy!" Sally called, but this time the hedgehog dodged her grab and kept on running.

Mighty asked. "Old playmate of hers?"

"If she's that eager to throw her life away let her!" Julie spat.

Sally swore angrily. "You cold-hearted-"

Knuckles snapped them back to reality. "We don't have time for this! Chaotix behind me, Sally, you rabbit-"

"Ma name is-"

"Whatever! The two of you stay close; you're used to stealth war not grand battles. Now let's go before the first line is slaughtered!"

"Vector, take this," Espio said, handing the crocodile his gun. "I won't be needing it. Excuse me as I get to work." The chameleon vanished into thin air.

Vector cursed in frustration. "Lousy 'lone chameleon' fighter!"

"Hey more for me," Mighty just had to say brazenly.

"Ugh!" Knuckles groaned. "Anyone else think of going solo and I'll drag you back to the group myself! Now let's go already!"

"Yeah!" Charmy cheered, zipping a few feet ahead of Knuckles as the heroes made their way to the distracted Knights, zigzagging through lines of fire towards the enemy.

While the cooler heroes kept the monsters distracted, the heroic members of group three focused as best they could to evacuate, help, and save the people who didn't care for kings or wars, who just wanted to live their lives in peace. Their equipment wasn't meant to take life, but to save it.

The outer edge of the Knights' entry zone was dotted with people who had attracted the ire or annoyance of the Knights or had just been too scared to risk running.

Not all of them were dead.

Dominic Son of Drake, spotted a magenta echidna, his gut impaled through the back into the ground with a long spike fired from Havoc. The spike actually kept blood from pouring out, saving his life in a bizarre twist. The echidna was in agony, but he kept reaching for a briefcase with the logo of one of the city's only major business firm, demonstrating how even when they were dying some people in the world had their priorities majorly screwed up.

Thankfully, the spikes didn't have a barb on the end and they pulled the echidna off it without any damage. Dominic was quick to apply the bandages before the bleeding began in earnest (it would have been impossible to move him and the spike since half of it was in the ground).

The magenta echidna still reached for the stupid briefcase even as he was getting patched up, showing how even when they were being treated and saved from death some people still had their priorities majorly screwed up.

"Forget it," Dominic said gruffly. "You're alive for another day, if that's not enough for you then too bad!" They moved the rather helpless echidna away from his precious contracts. The invalid was already thinking angrily of how he'd sue the EST for leaving them behind, demonstrating how some people in the world were extremely ungrateful half the time even when their lives were being saved. Dominic wouldn't have cared; the time for the briefcase could be spent saving a life. All the while Dominic just hoped that those who always got the spotlight could keep the monsters off his group long enough for him to do his job.

The next two echidnas were caught under a tree blasted out of its roots by one of Hiroshima's bombs. One was much smaller than the other.

"Forget about me, help my son!" The older male echidna spat out.

And then there were those, who saw their priorities with crystal clarity.

…

The heavily armored Terratus marched forward, the shots and shock grenades from the EST bouncing harmlessly off his indestructible shell. It was futile. Havoc had stopped her attack to focus on the gnats that made it out of the transport, leaving the job of disposing of the rest inside to Terratus, and behind him safe from enemy fire, Ferrus. But while it was true Ferrus was perfectly safe from the echidnas firing their shots inside the transport…

"HI-YAH!" A flying dragon-kick from a cyborg rabbit out of left field was another matter altogether.

Lynx and rabbot tumbled over each other, skidding on concrete and dirt and not feeling much of anything as they were too focused on beating the crap out of each other. Ferrus snarled and gripped at her with his claws, cutting open her sides as he tried to rip her face off, his jaws kept at bay only by the formidable strength of Bunnie's robot arm while her significantly weaker flesh arm pounded the monster lynx repeatedly in the face, trying to get the slavering monster the hell off of her.

Terratus heard another battle cry and turned his attention in time to see the flaming fist coming right at him. He snorted in amusement at this attack. The fools, his shell was unbreakable, when would they see that?

Terratus pulled his head inside his shell, along with his arms and legs.

However, the giant horns on his helmet prevented him from retracting his head all the way in, so the upper part of his face was still exposed. The fire-covered punch struck him right in the forehead, shattering the red gem there. The force of the impact was enough to knock him on his back, hitting the ground hard enough to send a ripple through the pavement. Well, that was easily fixed, his armor could protect the rest of him from any attack anyway.

There was just one problem. The yellow and black spikes on his back, so frightening to look at, now stuck him right in the ground, and his arms just weren't built for going in that direction, leaving him rather pathetically immobilized. This was the distraction the first group of EST officers needed, and out they came from their ship, not risking a formation but sticking to dashing from cover to cover and avoiding going in a straight line, shooting whenever they were in motion.

This caused Riahta to redirect nearly all of his Knights who weren't openly fighting yet to stop their search and deal with the immediate threat…including his quickest searcher, Lightspeed.

…

Shade vanished and moved towards the unsuspecting heroes, katana drawn to decapitate them from behind, only to get a solid kick in the gut from thin air, which sent him crashing out of the street and into a nearby dance studio whose mirrors had all been shattered from the Vengeance's impact.

Shade lost his concentration long enough for the other invisible fighter to examine his enemy. Espio quickly analyzed his disadvantages in this fight, unlike a true chameleon; this thing could make its equipment invisible to the eye as well. This was going to make things a lot more dangerous, and tricky since he wanted to live to see tomorrow.

"I am the ninja in the family now, cousin," the blue living machine said, guessing at once who it was.

Espio started long enough for him to flicker into visibility. He saw the shurikens coming, and fell on his back and vanished again, the diving kick from Shade smashing the floor where he used to be.

Epsio got control of his emotions back, knowing better than to speak and give away his location, not trusting the echoes of the place to keep him hidden. It mattered little to him if this monstrosity had once been his cousin, now they were enemies.

The other chameleon vanished from the visible spectrum as well. It was a game of Marco Polo now.

The blue chameleon didn't want to play though, and unleashed a star burst of throwing stars in every direction. However, they became visible as soon as they left his body, giving Espio the perfect view of his enemy's location. Espio of course was unarmed, if a ninja could ever be truly considered unarmed.

Espio landed a solid kick right at the top of where his enemy's head should be, taking where he had seen the stars come from as well as where he himself would have moved to were he Shade into account as he calculated his strike. This caused the blue ninja to shift back into visibility again for a few precious moments, but did not prevent him in the least from attacking, making his own calculations on Espio's movements to make his attack. Espio saw the tail whip coming, he twisted to avoid it but felt the spike slice through his back: the chameleon refused to shout out in pain and instead stuck by his plan of attack. The blue thing started to fade from view again, leaving the dance room seemingly empty to anyone whose eyesight was limited to the visual spectrum. However, one of the invisible chameleons was now more visible than the other.

Espio knew his cloak was severely limited now; the open wound on his back compromised the ever changing color of his scales and was a dead giveaway to his location. Backpedaling for a few moments, Espio reached behind his back and dug into his own wound, giving him a fresh dose of pain but ignored it. He twisted on one toe, splattering the blood around him.

One of the drops struck an object that didn't appear to be there, telling Espio where his foe was just in time for his former cousin to charge at him with a kunai, which Espio was able to sidestep by bare molecules, although it left a thin cut along his stomach, leaving him with another telltale sign that could be used to spot him.

Espio covered both the wound on his stomach and his back with his hands to maintain his invisibility and took in the pain as he hopped back and landed on a wall, his sticky feet keeping him there as he slowed his heartbeat and focused his senses, waiting for his foe to make the next move. Thus was the way of the ninja.

…

"Half…breed." The animal managed to say.

"Lex." Bunnie recognized what was left of the lynx. Bunnie remembered this guy, he had been one of many Mobians who hated everything even remotely Terran. He even believed that after the war ended they should go back to the ways of their noble ancestors and do away with the thing called 'civilization' and the evil machines it had spawned. Of course that meant creatures like Bunnie Rabbot had to go. But that was the price of embracing the way nature had intended for them. As far as Bunnie could tell, this Knight now had his wish; he was more animal than , Bunnie conceded, he had a been a brave solider, detested political and military ambition, and couldn't stand how St. John refused to move on after Sally rejected him when a perfectly good woman who was willing to spend the rest of her life with him was standing right next to the skunk day in and day out.

Bunnie managed to pull her metal legs up to her chest and kick out into the creature's chest, shoving the creature off her and nearly tearing off her top in the process. Ferrus hit the ground, rolled, and leaped into the air jaws open wide to tear out her throat.

Bunnie sidestepped the lunge, and brought up her arm to block, the beast brought its fangs down hard on her metal limb.

Ferrus blinked in momentary confusion as the poisonous oily concoction meant to melt living flesh on contact only gave Bunnie's arm a nice shining.

"Wrong arm sugah," Bunnie smiled dangerously. "And here da right leg!"

The solid metal leg smashed right into Ferrus' solar plexus, denting the carapace and indirectly striking the soft internal organs, causing bright red blood to leak from the cracks. Her kick tore him off her arm, causing him to deeply scar it with his teeth and undo the polish his saliva had done. Oh well, she could always buff it up later.

This wouldn't be the first time Bunnie would be forced to put a teammate out of their misery who had been turned into a weapon of the enemy. 'Well,' she thought grimly, 'I'm ah weapon too.' Ferrus came at her again, this time with his metal claws drawn out. Bunnie back stepped, bringing her machine arm to the front again.

Bunnie didn't once curse her remaining flesh and blood arm for being of little use in this fight.

…

The echidnas fought bravely. Little pockets of happiness, this was what they fought for. Those little bits of happiness that their people could have, even if it was just for a moment, even if it was just within a small space, if they could live their lives in peace for just a little bit, then these Echidna Security Team members would be satisfied.

There were a large number of self-satisfied cynics who'd love at that moment to poke and probe all the weak points and failings of every Echidna Security member there. These echidnas wouldn't have cared. They didn't waste their precious living moments thinking on the so-called abstract nature of good and evil, nor which side in their endless social debates was truly the right side, if any. All that mattered was there were those present that sought to harm the people these echidnas had sworn to protect, and these echidnas would live or die to protect those people, doing the which of those two their duty commanded them to do first.

So with grim determination, the echidnas fought on against this impossible enemy: being the living shield between this menace and the innocent bystanders of Angel.

How much longer that shield would last was in question.

"Ha!" Lightspeed laughed. Speed-dashing one way, beheading in one dash Rita and Eric on the other. It seemed Eric wouldn't have his chance to ask Rita if he could be with her now that Jamie was dead. "Stupid mass-generated, one hit dice, level one cannon fodder!"

"You nameless, nondescript NPCs aren't worth our time!" Havoc added, flinging her spikes everywhere.

Plutus laughed as he summoned a giant gold weight and crushed a hapless soldier beneath it. "The best you faceless nobodies can do is off yourselves to save time!"

Some died screaming, some didn't get a chance to scream. Some just made noise, others called Knuckles' name, or the names of their mother, mate, or child.

However, much to the Knights' confusion, and in direct contradiction to the cosmic laws of epic battles, there were a number of EST echidnas that weren't instantly dying, actually _dodging_ the knights attacks and managing to get shots in.

If there was wave after wave of them, the Knights could accept this, however the EST were not being given constant reinforcements to add to quickly vanishing numbers, they were simply there, stubbornly refusing to retreat or surrender. If they just up and died like they were supposed to, the Knights wouldn't have minded, but these morons weren't following the script!

And where did these stupid shots from nowhere keep coming from? They were so distracting, and these holes in their armor were getting so unsightly!

…

While some might have marked Remington's strategy as self-preserving, the commander was in fact the EST's best sniper and thus the most logical one to carry out the maneuver. Having climbed to the top of the business he had entered (an insurance company bound to go bankrupt after this) he took his position and aimed his weapon over the rooftop's edge. He took his shot, and quickly made tracks to another sniping spot so he couldn't be tracked and eliminated by the enemy.

On the opposite side of the city square, in a multi-story female clothing store that made her wonder why echidna females felt such a need to hide themselves, Hershey followed the same tactic. Aim, shoot, and relocate. She couldn't risk staying in one spot for long lest she gained unwanted attention.

And their potshots were working wonders, distracting the relatively small number of enemies from creating a unified strategy.

…

An echidna officer threw a grenade at Plutus which exploded against his black belly, which was followed by several magazines worth of bullets.

Plutus felt dazed for a few moments, long enough for Mighty and Vector to both grab one arm, and for Charmy to sting the black pig in the face, sending him thudding to the ground. The armadillo and crocodile unloaded a clip of bullets each into the pig's face, then the officer ran up, stuffed a grenade into the pig's mouth, and all of them quickly retreated as it exploded.

"My –name- is Jeremy!" It had been the transport pilot, the one whose mistakes had cost Jamie his life. He had abandoned his nice little safe post, for the sake of trying to atone himself.

Plutus stumbled to his feet, coughing up smoke. "Ugh…I hate the taste of explosives at this time of day," he grumbled, hocking up a wad of toxic spit which melted off the face of the hapless echidna who had given him that unpalatable meal. Or rather intended to if Charmy hadn't taken that moment to jump on the Knight's snout and made several faces at him, resulting in the bad breath melting the Knight's metal teeth.

"Ha! You're no match for the strongest thing alive! All Knuckles is kinda good at is punching! I'm you're real threat! None of my friends are gonna fall while I'm here!" Mighty boasted.

Charmy, seeing this as a game, gleefully joined in the shooting, giggling madly as he jerked in the air firing bullets in every direction due to his difficulty in aiming and firing while airborne.

'And Julie thought _I_ was dangerous with the gun?' Vector thought to himself as he kept shooting at Plutus, who was now spitting out his canines in a vain attempt to hit the insect who took little notice of the attempts on his life. 'Really! How rude!' Vector grinned.

…

Knuckles didn't bother to ask if Sally and Julie could keep from killing each other in a life or death battle. Neither of them were that stupid. While Knuckles wasn't bursting into flames, his fists still could, as always he could shatter boulders without adding chaos flame to his fists, and he was going to remind Sonic how much damage they could do with them!

In spite of his new name, Sonic never wore armor for a reason: it slowed him down, and now that his body was armor, Knuckles was about to prove how bad a move that way!

Havoc sent a spike Knuckles' way as he tried to hit Sonic, Knux punched it off course, he was named Knuckles for a reason!

The fight wasn't at all like the one at Knothole, which logic dictated that Lightspeed should now be dominating. But Julie and Sally's weapons were providing the perfect distraction, and Knuckles knew Julie was enough of a crack shot to not worry about getting shot by friendly fire. Knuckles backed up against Lightspeed's claws, dug his fists into the ground, and rammed both feet into Lightspeed's gut hard, resulting in Lightspeed being knocked back.

"Maurice, stop this!" Sally demanded.

"You know how I hate that name!" Sally's dodge of the claws was so close that she saw a few strands of her red hair float in front of her eyes.

"So you _are_ still in there!" Sally cried.

"Shut up!"

"No way! No how! Dream on! I'm in your face and I'm not leaving until you wake up!" Sally promised. Just like he had done for her, long ago…

_"Now Sally, you stay right here! Auntie Julayla is going to come right back! She's just going to go get some things! Then we can hurry to the special place I told you about and we can meet all your friends there. Rosie is already waiting for us, I'm sure of it, so we don't need to worry." Julayla told Sally again before setting the little princess down, looking back at the besieged city and running back the way they had come._

_And Sally waited, and waited. She had been out in the woods before with her caretakers, but never alone. Why had all the robots gone crazy? Where were her papa and mama? Why weren't they here with her? The 'war' was over she was told, where the tall monsters hurt everybody. But then why was this happening? The little princess was cold, tired and hungry. Things she was not used to in the extreme._

_She heard noises and didn't know what they were. She saw shapes and had no idea what they could be as they moved just out of her range of vision. She sat there, wondering how long it would take Julayla to come back. Of course Julayla would come back. Why wouldn't Julayla come back? So what if it was getting a little darker? It was just getting a little colder, that's all._

_The hybrid curled into a ball. The stars were out. Julayla would be back soon. She wouldn't have left Sally out here all alone forever, would she? She'd never do that. Julayla had always been there for Sally. She wouldn't leave her. _

_Sally cried. Papa always told her not to cry in public, but since no one was around, Sally was sure it was okay. _

_She dreamed the hollow tree she was in became alive and ate her. She dreamed the entire forest turned into monsters and tried to eat her. She saw Julayla, she smiled at her and reached out to help her, and turned to smoke the moment before Sally touched her._

_Then a huge spiny monster grabbed her and began calling her name._

_"Sal', Sal wake up! Is it really you? Are you okay?" The monster asked. _

_Sally screamed and backed up as far as she could in her little hiding place, which wasn't very much at all._

_"Sal' it's me." Sally finally woke up and saw that it was Sonic, that blue hedgehog she had met a while ago at the castle. What was he doing here? And… who was this orange fox with him? The one with two tails? Was she still dreaming?_

_"Sonic?" She asked, not so sure she was awake._

_The blue hedgehog nodded. "Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?"_

_"S-Sonic what's going on?!" she cried, desperate for information. "The robots! The shouting! Everything!" _

_Sadly, Sonic had even fewer answers than Sally. He wondered about telling her about seeing the people turned into robots, he didn't want to think about that in the least._

_"I don't know." Sonic said._

_The fox moved past Sonic and looked at Sally curiously. "Who are you?" The fox asked innocently._

_Sally was shocked enough to come out of her hiding place and addressed the fox in her most formal tone. "I am Princess Sally Acorn!"_

_The fox politely returned, "I'm Tails Prower! Nice to meet you Princess."_

_"Just call'er Sally." Sonic said._

_"Her middle name?"_

_"It's her first name."_

_"When isn't it in front?" asked the confused Tails._

_"Just call me Sally," she decided to concede. Her dress was a mess anyway, it wouldn't do to be called a princess looking like this._

_"Okay Sally," the fox said again politely. "It's nice to meet you." _

_"Nice to meet you too…you're friends with Sonic?"_

_"We're best friends!" Tails declared proudly._

_"I kinda ran into him yesterday," Sonic said shrugging. "Seemed nice enough, so I kept him."_

_Sally glanced at the pair of tails on the fox again and blinked as the sight truly registered in her mind for the first time. "You're a…kitsune?"_

_"What's that?" Tails asked innocently._

_She blinked. "That's, that's what I think you are."_

_"Oh okay." Tails nodded cluelessly. Sally hid a smile. Could the fox possibly be any cuter?_

_"I can't wait to show you to Julayla, she'll love you. We just need to wait for Julayla. She said she'd be right back yesterday, I know she's coming," Sally said firmly._

_The hedgehog frowned. "Sal', I don't think we can stay here forever," Sonic said, not liking the idea of staying so close to the city._

_"You can go if you want, I'm staying right here!" Sally folded her arms and sat down on the ground, closed her eyes and pointed her nose upwards._

_Sonic closed his firsts and pressed his face so close to her she could smell chilidogs on his breath. _

_"No way! No how! Dream on! I'm in your face and I'm not leaving until you wake up!"_

_"I'm wide awake! Julayla wouldn't leave me!"_

_"Sal', Julayla's gone."_

_Sally started. That was impossible. "No she isn't!"_

_Sonic had been forced to do a little growing up in the last couple of days, and Sally was sentenced to the same fate. "She would be back by now!"_

_This was inconceivable in the princess's mind. Things had always gone Sally's way until yesterday, why should things ever change? "She's just a little late!"_

_"She's not coming back!"_

_"Is too!"_

_"Is not!" _

"_Is too!"_

"_Is not!" Tails covered his ears and turned the other way, recognizing this as an 'adult' conversation much as the ones his parents had occasionally had._

_This, needless to say, went on for a while, until an internal force broke the stalemate._

_"I'm hungry," Tails said out of the blue his stomach growled as loudly as a wild beast. He hadn't eaten since yesterday, and he had missed dinner and breakfast. Just like everyone else there._

_"Sal'," Sonic asked. "Did Julayla say where her special place was?"_

_"Yes…" Sally replied uncertainly._

_"I bet there's food there."_

_"I'm not leaving."_

_"We're not, we'll come back, but Julayla wouldn't want you starve right?"_

_Sally's own empty stomach convinced her of Sonic's argument. "O..kay…but we have to come right back!"_

_The hedgehog smirked. "Don't worry, I'm the fastest thing alive! We'll be there and back here before you know it, I promise." He crossed his fingers behind his back, of course, but Sally was too hungry to care._

_Repeating Julayla's directions as best she could, Sally took hold of Sonic's arm, while Tails took hold of the other arm. Sonic's legs became a blur as he sped up in place, and a moment later the forest was a blur to her._

Tempest opened his palms, showing off the red eye gems. They glowed along with the one on his forehead and chest. Red lightning arced from one gem to another, forming an electric triangle. Tempest looked darkly at his targets below, preparing to obliterate them.

"Tails! Miles! What are you doing?!" Cried a desperate and mortified voice. Why was it so familiar? Tempest turned to face the enemy, only to find a pink hedgehog in a red dress.

The EST soldier Kira-Ru looked at the confused monster and knew now was a perfect time to put it down before it got its act together. However, these thoughts were put to the side as from both sides two of the other monsters, the brown and red platypus and the bronze bear beast burst from behind a pile of rubble, drawing the fire of Kira-Ru's group away from the one in the sky.

The two monsters in turn were so distracted by the laser shots of Kira's officers that they didn't notice the pink hedgehog that seemed at the moment to be purely a non-threat.

There had been no programming on how Tempest was to react to Amy. There had been no frustrations he had with her hyper-stimulated by Riahta, no virtues clouded over.

So, with nothing to dictate his body's actions, Tails' fogged mind struggled to make sense of this girl before him as incomplete programming struggled to come up with a solution.

And to make things more confusing, Amy didn't attack! Then he would know she was an enemy. She just stood there. What was that look in her eyes?

Amy looked into the eyes of the orange and white living weapon. She saw the heartless malice. And that was just it. There was no heart in it.

All that anger, all that hatred on his face, it just looked, so, so, utterly and completely fake.

Tails always had heart in anything he did. She had known that from the very start…

_There was a knock at the door. Amy didn't react._

_The door opened. Amy didn't react._

_"Hello?" She heard a voice say. She didn't react. She still didn't react when she felt the bed bounce a little, signaling that someone had just sat next to her. "Hi. My name's Tails, you're Amy right?"_

_Tails? Sonic's sidekick? This was just enough motivation that she was able to turn her head to look at him. She thought he'd be taller, and she thought his tails were supposed to be larger than him too._

_Then Tails touched her. He put his little gloved hand on her shoulders. "It's okay if you don't want to say it, I know you're Amy."_

_Why was he here? What did he want?_

_"I heard about what happened, I'm sorry things had to happen that way."_

_Sympathy? Why? What was it to him?_

_"I can't blame you for liking him, I mean; Sonic is so brave, cool-looking, and that smile of his. When you see him, you never want him to leave, because he makes you complete, you feel whole when he's around."_

_"You love him too." Amy whispered, a rarity for her._

_"Huh?" Tails blushed bright red. "Eh? Wha? I mean…I guess I do, yeah, but, but not that way! I do love him, but there's more than one way to love someone."_

_"Then why do you sound almost exactly like me?" Again in a low voice._

_"Because you're right, I do love him, but I'm not in love with him."_

_"How is that different?" Amy said in a slightly louder voice, feeling confused._

_"Sally is in love with Sonic." He saw Amy's eyes harden slightly, okay, bad move. "That's to say, to be in love with someone, you have to love more than just things about them. I love everything about Sonic, and I guess that way you and I are alike. He's my role model; he's the me I want to be." Amy openly started at this. "When I first met him, he wasn't scared, even though I was. He was able to smile, though I was terrified. I can picture being with Sonic a lifetime from now, but it's not all I want out of life. Amy, did you ever think about what you were going to do with yourself after you won Sonic?"_

_"…" Amy wanted to answer quite proudly that she had. She hadn't. "I figured we'd live happily ever after."_

_"Happily ever after is something you have to work for Amy, it's not something you get right after you're with someone."_

_"Why are you here?" Amy tried to change the subject._

_He shrugged. "I heard you were down, I wanted to help pick you back up."_

_"Why? I'm a stranger to you, you don't even know me."_

_"I know you're a friend of Sonic's. I know you look up to him the way I do. I know you lost your world and Sonic was the only one there to help pull you out of the nowhere and help you find a somewhere."_

_Amy looked away sullenly. "People talk about me a lot?"_

_Tails shook his head. "No. Because it's exactly what happened to me."_

_Amy looked at him, now startled. "You?"_

_He nodded. "Same ship, welcome aboard crew mate."_

_Amy laughed before she realized she was. She still didn't get what he meant by 'loved opposed to in love' but maybe he could help take the weight off her shoulders after all._

What was Tempest supposed to do? This girl hadn't wronged him. She was pleading with him, not attacking him. There was no reason to harm her.

What was this confusion? Maybe he was supposed to attack her but couldn't? That was absurd! Of course he could attack her if he was supposed to! What was this?!

"Miles! I know you well enough to know you'd never do anything like this! I don't know what Sally saw but I know you couldn't have done any of it!"

Why wasn't she attacking him?! Error! Why wasn't he attacking her? Error! She was his friend, wasn't he supposed to help her? But then…why hadn't he gone to see her… before now?

…

"Agh!" Havoc swore, she looked around, seeing no one who could have shot her. "Where?!"

Lightspeed looked around for anything that could be the cause. That was when he noticed Charmy buzzing this way and that, firing his pistol joyfully at any Knight he saw. Lightspeed falsely assumed Charmy was the sniper. "It's that stupid bee! It has to be! Kill him!"

"Understood," Havoc replied. She unleashed a full wave of spikes at the annoying bee.

Charmy buzzed around in a completely illogical pattern, making it impossible to tell where he would be next. "Can't hit me! Can't hit me! You can never hit me! Nananananana! Haha!" The spikes zipped past him, none ever hoping to find their mark.

That was when Shine came down from above out of nowhere, and cleaved the youth in two down the middle.

Charmy didn't even have time to think an apology to Saffron for running away, because he was too scared to become king, not because he didn't love her and never had the courage to come back and tell her that. Now he never would.

"Charmy!" Vector screamed.

"No, not him! It's just not possible!" Mighty ranted. Charmy always came out unharmed while the rest of them were in bandages for weeks. He always drove them crazy, often being their arms and legs in those periods and getting his orders for lunch mixed up. He couldn't be dead!

'Dammit! No!' Plutus took advantage of the distraction and charged over, using his enormous body mass to pin them to the ground.

Plutus smashed their helpless skulls in, or meant to when a white female echidna holding a rocket launcher of all things got his attention instead in a very direct manner, namely shooting a missile into his head.

"Why!" The Knight shouted in annoyance as his ears rang. "Why! You're all just here to die to show everyone how mighty we are! How can any of you worthless red shirts still be standing!" He mindlessly charged at the albino but was forced to cover his front with his arms as an echidna fired at him with an Uzi from behind some rubble.

"Maybe just because there isn't time right now to know much about us, doesn't mean we don't have lives. I have a father I'm going to have a shouting contest over which BuzzBall team is better this year when I get home!" Jeremy Son of Jackie spat covering Jessica-Yu as she retreated with the empty weapon.

Plutus pushed him, and Jeremy went flying across the concrete, losing his jacket and some of his skin in the process. "You're just extras in this story. Nothing you do or say can have any effect what so ever on the outcome of this tale. For instance: This equally meaningless statue." The statue in question was of a naked marble pregnant Echidna looking lovingly at her belly. It was entitled, "Just before Time's Dawn," and it was regarded as the perfect symbolism of how things were just before Aurora had created this universe. However, right after it's unveiling; there were pharisees who demanded its removal and/or destruction, calling it improper for public viewing in light of children and married men. The artists' society had bled dearly to keep it where it was, and the EST had once even needed to protect it from a bomber. There were many echidnas that saw it as proof that their culture could evolve without losing its identity.

Plutus and Terra struck hard against the statue's back. It fell and shattered into a million pieces on the ground. "There, no one cares where it came from, no one cares about it. Just like no one is going to ever think of you once you're all dead."

"You're dead bastard."

…

Riahta was rather confused when the knocked-over statue did not reveal a hidden passage. He was running out of places it could be hidden here, as it clearly had been since it wasn't in public view at all. It was rational to assume that the Emerald therefore was under the statue's entire base rather than just the statue itself.

Terra had spent her entire time since the battle began digging like a mole from one part of the block to another, looking intensely for something though she didn't have the slightest idea what. Now she was redirected by Riahta to dig underneath the toppled statue, and again didn't find the important thing she was looking for. The frustration of looking for something and not knowing what it was driving her batty.

This was too much for Riahta. "Where is it? Where is it?!" They were in the right area, one of his Knights should have been able to eyeball it by now.

"Where is what Master Riahta?" Lightspeed asked his master, mentally responding to the evil echidna.

"The Master Emerald, you fool! What else?! It isn't in the heart of the city like it's supposed to be!"

Lightspeed felt perplexed. "Master Riahta, it's never been in the center of Echidnaopolis."

"That's absurd!"

Lightspeed shrugged. "As you say Master Riahta." He returned to his task.

The echidna smacked his face angrily. Oh right, the 'Riahta is never wrong' sub-clause. "Wait! Agh! …Very well, weapon, where _is_ the Master Emerald according to your memory?"

"Hidden Palace, Master Riahta."

He looked confused. "Hidden what? … Damn it, what a waste." Riahta dove into Lightspeed's mind and pulled out the location of Hidden Palace. Underground? … Hmph!

No more games! Riahta would just teleport the lot of them all there there and …and… what was this? How could he not teleport where Lightspeed was visualizing? It should have been impossible not to!

He couldn't have, this couldn't have been, had this entire battle been a giant waste of his time?!

Riahta quickly dumped more of his resources into repairing the locomotion of the Vengeance, resources he hadn't believed he would need again until this moment!

Riahta, thinking they wouldn't need to leave the city, hadn't ordered the Knights to attack any of the anti-air weapons. Now frantically Riahta shifted the target in his Knights minds, confusing many EST officers on the verge of meeting the Creator when the Knights suddenly seemed to forget the EST existed and instead started to attack the helpless anti-air cannons. Of course, that didn't mean the EST had forgotten about them!

"Shoot to kill and don't let up!" Kira-Ru barked at her men, taking aim and firing with the eye that wasn't now a bloody mess. The EST second group now focused their shots totally at Anark and Monkshood, the bronze beast now reduced to a shield for its brown and red partner.

…

"No problem!" Hiroshima said. "I'll blow 'em up! I'll blow 'em all up!"

A powerful sniper shell from Remington hit Hiroshima hard in the side, forcing him to take a full step to the side from the impact. He had about a second to turn and look at where the shot had come from before one of the little bombs on his body exploded, having been cracked ever so slightly from the shot, setting off a chain reaction and detonating his entire cache.

The resulting mushroom cloud knocked the other Knights near him off their feet. When they looked to see the remains, they found a featherless, nearly skinless duck pathetically twitching his body. His entire body was black with burned flesh and red with blood. His beak was gone, rather than having been blown to the back or top of his head as a cartoon duck in a similar situation would have done.

…

The stalemate in the dancing school hadn't ended. Espio still sat on the wall, motionless, while Shade remained out of sight, running through options in his mind and trying to find a course of action.

And then he found one.

Espio's sharp eyes noticed at once a shuriken flinging out of nowhere, and instantly pounced…

Except the shuriken wasn't aimed at him, but at a red box on the wall labeled FIRE ALARM.

The moment the throwing star hit the box, an alarm went off, and the sprinkler system in the ceiling, switched on, showering the room with water. The water ran down the sides of the ninja chameleons, the void they created in the rain revealing their respective locations. Simultaneously, they both dropped their cloaks, knowing there was no point in maintaining them now.

For a moment, they stared at each other, ninja at ninja. And then…

They acted.

Shade dashed forward, katana stabbing forward right at Espio's torso. The purple chameleon was already moving at the first sign of the blade, and had jumped into the air, landing on top of the blade only long enough to jump off again, kicking Shade in the back of the head as he did so. The dark ninja spun around, slashing his sword in an attempt to sever Espio's ankles, but the chameleon had tucked into a ball and bounced off the sword again. He rolled towards a wall, ran up it, and kicked off the ceiling, diving down at his enemy with a slicer kick.

Shade hopped back out of the way, flinging shuriken at Espio as he did so. The purple chameleon shifted his body this way and that to avoid the blades, then leaped up in the air as Shade slashed at him with the katana again. Espio had jumped high enough to touch the ceiling, and he stuck there for a moment, using his body's natural adhesiveness to somersault across the ceiling and behind Shade, grabbing him by the tail and yanking on it in an effort to knock the fake ninja off his feet.

Shade responded by flicking his tail upwards, flinging a startled Espio over his head. The shuriken flashed, and Espio cried out as his yellow horn was cut off, leaving only a blunt stump. He fumbled and hit the ground, and barely dove to the side as Shade's katana buried itself in the floor, cutting open a gash on Espio's legs. He dove underneath Shade's legs, sliding across the wet ground and grabbing his severed horn as he did so. He flipped back into the air, horn in hand, as Shade's spiked tail slammed down into the floor where his head had just been, and did an air dodge to avoid the shuriken flung at him.

He landed on the ground for only a moment, using his finely-tuned leg muscles to spring back into the air and aim a kick at Shade's head. The dark ninja blocked with his blade, but that was what Espio had wanted, and just as his feet touched the flat edge of the sword, he drove his broken horn into Shade's chest.

The horn only left a dent in the durable living metal that covered the mutant chameleon's skin. Espio's moment of surprise was all the opening Shade needed to kick Espio in the chest, slash him across the face with a kunai, and pin him to the ground with his foot on the purple chameleon's chest.

Shade glared down into his opponent's eyes. "Valdez…" Espio hissed weakly.

Shade raised his sword, preparing for the finishing blow. "Goodbye, cousin."

The blade came down, Espio caught it, using the natural adhersion in his hands to his advantage to make the impossible possible, twisted it around, breaking the blade via leverage alone and slicing open Valdez's throat causing the faux ninja to stumble backwards, the former chameleon covered his throat. Espio picked up the broken pieces of glass off the floor and threw them at Valdez like throwing stars who blocked them with his other arm as Epsio in stuck the unguarded limb with several pressure point strikes, turning it useless for the moment. Espio shot his tongue at the ceiling, stuck to his and did a kick into Valdez's gut sending the faux ninja tumbling over. "The best of tools do NOT make up for experience neophyte!" Raihta called, and Valdez retreated with post haste. Espio threw Valdez's own sword at him, which missed his head which Espio had been aiming for and instead impaled him in the shoulder. Letting go of his tongue Espio swore, "Run back to hell coward."

…

Lightspeed's line of sight spotted the black cat with the sniper rifle hiding in a high pillbox. "I'll get that cowardly-"

"You will forget her! You will focus on destroying the anti-air weapons only! Retrieve Hiroshima afterwards!"

Normally Riahta would have left his pawn to its fate, and failing that, just teleport the thing back to him. But now that he knew this was not to be the final claim for the prize, he couldn't yet discard his weapons, and he couldn't waste the energy recalling it on his own.

So the insect hadn't been the sniper after all, oh well, no big loss, and easy to correct.

Riahta through Shine's eyes saw the black cat holding the anti-cyborg rifle. Why was she so familiar? Oh yes. It was the skunk's woman. He had wondered why she wasn't floating in the ocean along with the rest of the crop.

He telepathically commanded his pawns, showing them Hershey's locations in their minds. ~We were supposed to have that one. Correct that.~

Riahta's command broke through Tempest's confusion and he sped off, flying in low to avoid becoming a target for the anti-aircraft weapons. Amy called out his name again, but Tempest ignored it, the best he could at least.

Lightspeed, did the same, forsaking his fight with Knuckle Head and Sal' to systematically destroy the anti-aircraft guns that would destroy the Vengeance if it attempted to leave.

Shine boomed up right in front of the black cat, who wasn't half as scared as she should have been. "You belong to Riahta and the Great Walkers now!" Hershey gave him his answer right away.

Most kept a bullet for themselves, Hershey kept a grenade, and that was for the person who came in for the killing blow.

Shine blocked with his shoulders sending the bomb back at the foolish black cat, only to remember he no longer had shoulders since his arms just floated around his body.

The impact sensitive grenade exploded right in Shine's face, the Knight screamed in pain, holding his face in both hands where his blank faceplate used to be.

"That was for Jeffery you rat bastards!" The cat hissed. She saw the bloody face underneath. "Still the pizza faced little boy eh Stu?"

Shine drew his broken giant sword and his living scarf clawed at the air venomously.

The combat knife flew through the air and stuck into Shine's eye socket. It didn't go as deep as Hershey would have liked. It didn't even penetrate the brain case. Now Shine was in even worse pain and blind in one eye to boot. "And that was for always being a coward Stu!"

Hershey took this as her signal to take her leave, and dumping the heavy rifle she shot her grapping pistol into the floor before jumping off the floor she was on, rappelling down several stories before landing perfectly on her feet; she was a cat after all. That was when she shot at the ammo above her, still in her pillbox where Stu was still trying to get the knife out of his eye socket. The blast knocked Shine out of the pillbox and smashed him into the ground, but he was still alive. Too bad.

Hershey was tempted to finish him off, but then noticed a bloody and dirty Bunnie Rabbot sucking wind with an equally tired but determined Lynx monster. If this had been medieval Europe, Hershey might have had a problem doing what she did next, interfering in another warrior's fight. As it was, Hershey just did her job. She took aim with her anti-cyborg pistol and shot the former Freedom Fighter through the back of the head. The once-living corpse fell to the ground, dead.

Bunnie look at her with horror, finally noticing her. "You killed him!"

Hershey rolled her eyes. "Hello! Life or death battle here!"

…

The wicked echidna gasped as he felt a psychic backlash from the impact of Hershey's bullet through Ferrus' head. NO! One of his pawns was dead! He couldn't animate corpses! It would take all of his remaining power to be able to pull that off, and he didn't care to waste it! They had to end this now! This could ruin his entire plans!

Riahta couldn't believe Shine had failed to capture one non-mutant, non-magically powered, non-power armored emotionally warped female! He was about to order Shine to try again when through the eyes of his pawns he finally took notice of one pink-furred cyborg with a very familiar face as she sent several Order Knights wailing for their mothers as she single-handedly held them off with a very large gun and very cruel and well-aimed insults. Was it her? Was it possible? If he couldn't vent his wrath on his great-grandson then maybe his woman would do!

He actually preferred the company of that whinny goody two shoes half-sister of hers always trying to topple the oppression of the Guardians and their empire. Stupid Da-Lien! Stupid White Legion! But she and her band of bleeding hearts were just an annoyance (much as Robotnik had thought of the Freedom Fighters). That arrogant, slut of a scant, who hung onto his great grandson like an extra arm, that angered Riahta, the way she always stuck her tongue out at him when no one was looking, the way she openly mocked his masters behind the protection of the Slave Emerald and the Guardians. Oh, how he had dreamed about the thing he would do to her once the power was his all his! And now, perhaps he would get the chance…or a preview of said chance, anyway. Rubbing his hands with glee, he sent a command to one of his Knights not directly in the line of combat.

…

The ground beneath Julie opened up as a red armored female armadillo burst from the pavement, grabbed her in a bear hug so hard as to crack ribs, before diving back into the earth before she could even holler in surprise.

"Julie!" Knuckles screamed his heart in his mouth.

Knuckles leaped after her but Lightspeed at that moment knocked him back with a surprise return and a kick to Knuckles' iron gut.

Lightspeed sneered. "I took yer last girl friend Knux, I think I'll have this one too!"

"**** YOU!" Knuckles swore, determined to kill Lightspeed at that very moment.

That was when Knuckles was knocked off course again, this time by Tempest. Knux sailed through the air until he hit the concrete, anyone one else would have had their bones shattered. Knuckles was just left with the taste of blood in his mouth, and utterly disoriented.

…

With evidence that his target was not here, and a consolation prize in tow, Riahta gave up the fight and teleported his eleven remaining knights back into the interior of the Vengeance, the last of the anti-aircraft weapons destroyed. The shadow of fear of his masters for this debactle was fully on him. The death machine began to rise into the air, actually bleeding some sort of organic fuel as it retreated into the sky, going at all possible speed away from the city toward where its target actually was.

Inside the Vengeance, Riahta looked at the pink echidna at his feet, her face enough to cause his blood, mere dust, to boil. He would enjoy this so very much indeed.

…

And like a magic spell, poof, it was over. No more shouting, no more firing, the survivors not believing it could have ended just like that for seemingly no reason at all.

There was silence, nothing but silence. The enemy had withdrawn. The battle was over. Did they win? Hard to tell. Jamie, Eric, Rita, and Charmy were gone, not to mention everyone else who now lay dead. And Julie-Su had been captured as well.

Espio finally reappeared, stumbling out of the wrecked dance studio, his eyes haunted by just how close death had been. His yellow horn was completely gone, he was breathing haggardly, and his body was covered in gashes. He look took one look at Charmy, and for the first time that any who knew him could recall, Espio actually showed emotion, his face a picture of despair as a single solitary tear slid down his cheek.

"Where were you!" Mighty demanded.

"We could have used you!" Vector snapped, looking ready to eat Espio then and there.

Espio bowed his head in shame. "I offer no excuses. I only did what was within the limits of my skills and abilities. I apologize."

"That's not good enough." Mighty actually threw a punch at Espio, which the ninja caught, and threw the armadillo into the ground. "I could ask you where you were, but I don't, because I know you'd never let a team mate die. I only ask you give me the same benefit of the doubt."

…

"Julie…" Knuckles moaned, the third EST group rushing to their Guardian's side in turn to help him to his feet.

"Guardian! Guardian! Are you alright?" Remington asked worriedly.

"Believe it or not he'll be fine sir," Dominic said. "These Guardians sure are made of sterner stern stuff."

"They always have been."

"Julie!" Knuckles moaned, much louder this time.

"Knuckles…" Sally whispered.

…

"How could ya do that?!" Bunnie demanded.

Hershey shrugged nonchalantly. "Easy shoot, only a few yards."

"That ain't wha' ah meant ya know et!"

"That fight could have gone either way, I wasn't about to have a teammate's death on my head…again."

"He was a team mate!"

Hershey glared at her. "You should have told him that! Are you telling me you weren't thinking the same thing?"

Bunnie started. She had been thinking the exact same thing, but to see it done by someone else, somehow magically placed it into an entirely different context. But she wasn't about to say that. "He was that way because of you!" Bunnie said and instantly wished she could take back her words.

Hershey shrugged. "Then I corrected a mistake. Don't like it, then too bad! Wake up Rabbot! Would you prefer if you were dead and other people were dead because Lex was still alive?"

"No…but that's a what if-"

"Are you going to demand I be punished for killing a hostile person in a combat situation or are we going to help the others?"

Bunnie sighed, her shoulders sagging as she caved in. "You win…Let's just go."

Hearshy didn't move. "Wait."

Bunnie didn't want to hear more. "Now what?"

"Look." Hearshy pointed.

Ferrus' body seemed to be melting, the metal mass covering his body becoming a reflective puddle on the dirt and concrete before evaporating completely, leaving behind a furless, skinless body, and its hip and shoulder bones completely out of place. Now Hershey wished she hadn't pointed it out. Bunnie felt sick, while Hershey covered Bunnie's eyes out of time-honored reaction. Bunnie was used to fighting robots. Hershey had seen real war before Robotnik's take over (amazing what you can see when you lie about your age).

"What's it mean?" Bunnie had to ask.

Hershey shook her head. "Don't ask me… looks like we have another teammate's body to take back home with us."

"I wasn't able to kill him." Jeremy berated himself. "I promised he was dead and he got away. Filthy pig." He sat in front of the statue's remains.

"Everyone gets theirs." Jessica tried to comfort him. "Don't worry, sooner or later."

"I just hope you're right."

"Something's hope is all you've got." Jessica said as she hugged him.

…

Amy Rose glared up into the sky, at where the Vengeance had disappeared. "Miles IS in there," she swore. "He has to be. I saw him I know I did."

No one was really paying attention to her, and for once in her life, Amy didn't care. She just knew he was in that flying death ship, and she was going after it, and the Creator protect anything that stood in her way.

Echidnaopolis' news groups were finally allowed near the disaster area. Seriously, they would have preferred to have been nearby while the battle was happening, to be there afterwards just felt meaningless. Stupid military, getting in the way of a good story.

The EST naturally rolled their eyes at such sentiment, but field reporters saw it as their duty to risk life and limb to bring information to the public at large just as it was the EST's duty to protect those same people.

However the information the EST were able to give was sketchy at best, the Guardian they were told was in no mood to be spoken to, and few newsechidnas barely even thought to ask the foreigners what had been going on, after all, what they knew and had seen couldn't have been that important.

The couple that did bother to ask off-handedly for some minor details from the aliens asked nearly all the wrong questions, skipping over the major details their interviewees could have provided vast insight into. Amazingly they did stumble on some intense information while Bunnie talked about the difference in feeling fighting a former comrade who was still in any sense of the world 'alive.' After wasting most of their time trying to get her to say the Dark Legion had a secret alliance with foreigners, they were left stunned and bewildered by Bunnie _again_ having to explain how she had not lost her arm and legs and the truth of their violation. The media echidnas had no idea what to do with this information that had just fallen into their lap. They merely stumbled away from her, feeling like they had just tripped into the Twilight Zone, their puny media minds reeling as they attempted to process the information.

Sally on the other hand answered questions with restraint and maturity. One of the reporters managed to recognize her beyond all reason as Princess Acorn. Given how she was right next to Knuckles at the time and the concerned look on her face, said news echidna made it a point to poke and probe about questions she truly had no desire to answer. They never once asked the state of affairs with the Acorn Kingdom, nor about the war with Robotnik, that Sally wondered if they even knew had ended.

The one echidna that bothered to ask Hershey anything got short and to the point answers, plus he was turned off by her dark mood, and he had better things to do anyway.

Amy was kind of hard to predict. There was the part of her that wanted to snarl at the media predators to leave her alone. Then there was the part of her that lived to eat up moments like this in the eyes of the public at last. Then there was the part of her that just wanted to be left alone and hoped that the echidna would just go away.

Finally, Amy said she hadn't seen one bit of the Guardian's battle, and had been more interested in waking up her Miles from the nightmare he was obviously trapped in. The echidnas of course had no idea who 'Miles' was, which frustrated Amy and caused her to launch into a full biography of the little fox, from which the echidnas inched away when she started describing how 'kuwai' he looked when the setting sun glossed off his fur or how her heart sped up when his tails were twitching in unison.

The dead and critically injured were solemnly removed from the battlefield the central square had become. Vector burst into tears when they took Charmy's remains away and Mighty had to drag the blubbering crocodile away by the tail to keep Vector from crushing the corpse in his embrace while the croc screamed out sounds of regret and remorse.

Espio silently said a prayer while Mighty, not used to failure or loss, kicked, punched, and headbutted any piece of rubble he saw until it was pebbles, screaming oaths to the point where Bunnie actually covered Amy's ears. Everyone decided to let Mighty be.

After being absolutely sure the Guardian would be all right, Remington attended to the fates of his own officers. They had fought, they had died, and for what? The enemy wasn't destroyed, if anything it just withdrew. Now for the first time since its creation one of the Chaotix too was dead. Not to mention Jamie who'd never be able to share his jazz collection with anyone again. Would it have been better if they hadn't shown up at all? Just let the enemy look around, and leave empty-handed? Remington looked at the civilian echidnas that would be dead right now if not for their sacrifice. No, Remington decided, it hadn't been a waste.

…

The various heroes regrouped to plan their next move in the field of death. Lex's body was placed under echidna care until it could be brought back to Knothole. When Sally saw it she said, "So they're still alive after all. They're not just a mass of breathing steel now."

"Knights in armor," Hershey added plainly.

"Is this karma's way of paying me back for all those things I've punched into dust over the years?" Knuckles wondered. The Guardian had gotten his wits back, though personally he wished he wasn't. His Julie was gone, taken by those freaks and that insane version of the old man! He'd get her back if it was the last thing he did! Though he knew it was really not Lex's fault for what he did while here, Knuckles only knew this Mobian as an enemy, and thus couldn't bring himself to feel pity, he was too busy feeling pity for his own people who trusted him with their lives and died for him.

"I knew my Miles was in there," Amy repeated.

An EST who was missing part of her face but could still walk and thus insisted she was still fit for duty that had been looking at the dog tags of dead teammates to tell their families spotted the pink alien with the Guardian. Kira-Ru looked at Amy with her still working eye. "I remember you! You were that ground-bound that just stood around talking to that orange monster when the rest of us were fighting for our lives! What was the deal anyway? That thing your boyfriend?"

"Yes. He is," Amy said calmly looking the woman in the eye.

"You have very bad taste in males you little creature!" Kira-Ru spat back. If the brat had actually helped maybe Kira would be seeing through both eyes right now.

"You!" Knuckles' spikes fists were around Amy's throat. Hadn't Knuckles been on the ground a moment before?

Knuckles might have been beaten and tired, but he still had more than enough strength to squeeze the life out of one teenager girl with an inferiority complex.

Amy's crossbow was useless, and as she tried to pull her hammer to crack Knuckles' skull in self-defense, a few good EST units kept her hammer arm at bay even as they futilely tried to pull her out of Knuckles' vice grip. Knuckles' voice held a ruthlessness Sally had never once categorized with him even in his darkest moments. "If you had just taken out that flying sushi machine Julie would still be here with me! Instead she's in the hands of that flipped out god-complex version of my great-grandpa! I should keep closing my fists tighter around you until all the bones in your neck break, one by one!"

"Guardian!" Remington cried in dismay. He pulled at Knuckles' arm fruitlessly, trying to keep the Guardian from making a serious error.

"Knuckles, stop this!" Sally ordered, Bunnie already working at getting Knuckles' arms off the lass.

"Julie's gone! And it's because of her! I'd have saved her if it wasn't for that thing that used to be Tails!"

"What about your great-grandpa's precious prophecy! He said you couldn't kill Miles or Sonic! Just stop it!"

"Julie!" Knuckles howled, making it rather clear that all rationality had fled him. Sally chopped at Knuckles' wrist, forcing him to let go.

Amy coughed repeatedly before getting to her feet, glaring dangerously at Knuckles. "If you want a piece of me Knucklehead then bring it on!"

Every other echidna there gasped at Amy's gall, Knuckles just got ready. Sally knew where this was going to go and saw she would have to intervene quickly lest Knuckles got his head smashed in and Amy got pummeled to death.

Sally got in front of Knuckles, not spreading her arms out like a shield, but looking ready to take on the Guardian in hand to hand combat. Bunnie quickly joined her. "Our enemy is Riahta! Not his slaves! And definitely not each other! Now how about we focus on finding out where they're going?!"

The idea of going through Sally was a lot less pleasant than putting the pink brat in her place, and Knuckles stood down. He saw that all of the echidnas were looking at him, most likely to jump to his aid in a heartbeat's notice. But he slowly noticed some had a look of dismay on their faces, yes the girl was an alien, but still, the idea of their Guardian trying to strangle someone was unthinkable.

Knuckles' couldn't believe their looks, he actually felt ashamed. Sally and her band were one thing, but his own people? Had he crossed a line? Knuckles was no good at speeches, and even worse at trying to reason with people. So his mind came up with the best he could think of: "Carry on." And so they did as the Guardian commanded.

Sally's one desire at that moment was to move on from the near-disaster, she could whack Knuckles upside the head later. "Now let's find out what Angel's radar system can tell us about where that monster went."

Remington said, "Allow me Miss Acorn." The officer took out his radio and requested the information. The Vengeance hadn't left the island's landmass, and was moving at what could be compared to a turtle's pace. But its course put nothing but wilderness in its path, not even the Legion had anything of value in the direction it was going.

Knuckles however, once again, after hearing the news, put two and two together.

"I know where they're headed; it's the only place they could be headed. We should have gone there first! We're just lucky they made the same mistake we did, thinking what they wanted was in Echidnaopolis!" He groaned. "I am such an idiot. I was so caught up in the idea they wanted the island after the fight in Knothole that I forgot there's only one reason anyone comes to Angel in the first place! Agh! Stupid! Can all of you ladies still walk? Yes? Good! There's no breathing period this time!"

"Hold on! What are they after?" Amy had to ask.

He grabbed Amy close, surprising the girl who reached for her weapons again but Knuckles just whispered in her ear. "The Master Emerald."

"The-" Knuckles placed a hand over her mouth, and gave as many 'don't say it' signs as he could think of. Amy caught wind of the message.

"Let's go." Knuckles said.

"Yes, Guardian." Remington stood at attention.

Knuckles shook his head. "No Remington, where I'm going you and your men can't follow, you stay here and keep the sanity."

Kira-Ru barked. "And these foreigners –can-?!"

"Officer!" Remington ordered. Kira-Ru quickly closed her mouth.

"Right!" Vector said, the tearstains still on his face, looking ready to march to death and glory.

Knuckles looked the gator straight in the eyes, stabbing his finger at the ground. "You're all staying here."

"No way!" Vector snapped his jaws. "They killed Charmy!"

"You're staying here in case the Legion decides to be an opportunist."

"That's a 'what if!' Those monsters are a 'certain'!" That complex an idea didn't belong in Vector's head.

"And now both them and their ship are seriously hurting. We'll be all right."

"That's stupid!"

Knuckles sighed in exasperation. "Look. We've lost Charmy, you've all taken your share of hits, you've done _enough_. Besides, I need someone super strong and super tough to hold things together here."

"You got it Knuckles!" Mighty responded instantly. Now that Knuckles had said that, the rest of the Chaotix would have to stay behind just to make sure Mighty didn't try to take on the whole Dark Legion by himself. Vector cursed Knuckles for playing dirty while Espio admired such sly tactics: Espio was shinobi after all.

While the echidnas were apprehensive of their Guardian going solo yet again, Knuckles insisted that it was private and that was enough. So now with the evening coming, and this time without any rest stops in between, the heroes, with zero fanfare, marched on paw beyond Edchidnaopolis and into the wilds beyond. Before that however, there was one last event to play out.

Marching alongside the laser focused Knuckles, Sally stopped when a blank wall got her attention.

"Princess," Said a voice from nowhere that turned out to be the purple chameleon, what was his name again?

"Espio?"

The ninja bowed his head from his sitting spot on the vertical surface. "I have a favor to ask of you."

This was more than a little out of place. "What is it?"

The ninja's voice and expression didn't waver in the slightest. "One of the things we fought, I recognized it, and it was a cousin of mine."

Sally's eyes softened. "I'm sorry."

"You have done nothing wrong to be sorry for. My request is simple."

"Yes?"

Espio's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his voice held no malice. "Kill him."

"There might be hope for him."

"He's not your family, I'm making it easier for you, focus on saving those you love."

"So you're going to give up on him just like that?"

"If Valdez insists on pretending to be Shinobi, he should realize that your life becomes forfeit as soon as it conflicts with the mission objective. We ninja are weapons: when we die, we die. Do not hesitate to kill him. Since Knuckles has insisted that I don't follow, and I have promised to obey his orders, please carry out the task in my place Princess."

'Have I really been a princess since that horrible day of Robotnik's betrayal? Or am I just another soldier?' Sally wondered. "I won't hesitate, but I won't go out of my way."

"I'd expect nothing less." Again Espio vanished into thin air. Sally was quick to catch up with the others.

Amy asked. "What was that about?"

Bunnie answered before Sally could, those ears of hers could hear just about everything. "It was about family."

"Oh," said Amy, instantly understanding.

One part down, four to go.


	11. Hidden Palace: Knights vs Brotherhood!

You know it's actually kinda funny, my stuff written nine years ago even after being revised was harder to read through than my new stuff. I honestly hope that means I've evolved as a writer since then.

This chapter contains a references to legendary Sonic fanfiction writer 'Joshura's' Sonic Resurrection fanfiction here on

And I again apologize for slipping on some parts of Knuckles' family tree here.

The contrast between Echidnaopolis and the rest of the island was stunning. There was no clearing, no gravel, no fence, no signs, no nothing, you were walking by a condo one minute, and palm trees the next. The jungle was without master and without order. Grass grew wild. Flowers were the size of mobians. Beautiful ferns sprouted everywhere. Not to mention the wild vines that kept getting in their faces.

To add insult to injury, Knuckles insisted Bunnie and Amy _not_ do any trailblazing and go around and over the foliage rather than through it with a few good toppled trees. Amy wondered if Knuckles was going to tell them not to step on the grass next.

Hershey kept her mouth shut and sucked it in. While all were used to the underbrush of the Great Forest, Angel Island's flora was in a league all its own. The rabbot was actually glad her legs were made of metal for once.

Bunnie had to ask after something unevolved tried to take a bite out of her ankle and broke a fang. "Are ya sure we can catch up thad thin' on foot?"

Knuckles didn't look back at her but spoke politely, "It's on the clear other side of the island, and that thing was coughing blood, plus I have a route Sonic nor Tails don't have a clue exists." How else did anyone think he was able to get ahead of Sonic and Tails so regularly during that first fateful trip to the island? "It'll get us there in the space of a heartbeat, trust me."

Ironically, Sonic _did_ know the route Knuckles spoke of, Sonic had spotted it when Knuckles was exiting it one time and Sonic had dashed inside before it closed, but Riahta had never asked about it. Not that it would have done any good anyway. The doorway would have never opened for someone like Riahta or those influxed with his taint, and any firepower with enough punch to force it open would have also destroyed its function.

In the bowls of the sluggish Vengeance, the Knights readied themselves for what was going to be the real battle. The confusion of the previous battle's meaninglessness had quickly been wiped away. Ferrus' death had been noticed with positively no mourning or the common decency of even one word of fairwell, since the whole concept was alien to them anyway.

Many just stood about listlessly as their bodies slowly repaired themselves. Others cycled through the hateful images that Riahta had implanted in their heads with little or no basis in reality. Riahta pushed their actions so hard it left many of their minds in a fog.

Plutus was openly whining at the slow process of repairing his backplate. That one echidna after Plutus had knocked over that statue had gone animalistic, acting like some army of one climbing over the clumsy black pig's body firing his weapons at point blank range, going right through the armor and tearing at the internal organs inside. How could this have even happened? The rather obvious fact that the EST officers had a lifetime's experience of fighting half machine half living opponents never once occurred to him. It wasn't programmed to. The EST in Riahta's world were prepped and ready to deal with the White Legion's flesh and blood fighters. Thus Riahta had tailor-made his Knights accordingly.

Riahta feared what his masters would do to him when they found out, or if they had already found out. Maybe they wouldn't destroy him now that he was finally on the right track to the prize? Either way Riahta knew his masters' tolerance for his failure that had already been made paper-thin was undoubtedly already broken. Riahta knew fear; his whole body was in a cold sweat as the reality of his blunder crept over him.

However, he knew one surefire method that had always cured him of doubts and anxiety, place doubt and anxiety into someone else!

…

Julie-Su awoke to find herself in unfamiliar surroundings and instantly reached for her weapon, only to realize she couldn't. She couldn't move her arms or legs at all.

She breathed in deeply and was reminded of her broken ribs. Coming to her senses she felt her feet and hands were restrained down to her fingers and toes. She strained her cybernetics to the breaking point but found that while her confines did moan at her effort they did not break.

This was around the time she remembered the red armadillo woman thing that had grabbed her, the one with the caged muzzle. Julie remembered being pulled under then nothing but a blur and confusing sounds. Taking in her situation, Julie saw that the walls, ceiling, and floor were all composed of black metal, being illuminated by a crimson light coming from inside, creating the illusion that she was inside a living thing. Aside from her busted ribs Julie felt she was all right technologically and biologically.

That was when her eyes widened by a slight fraction of an inch; she saw she wasn't alone in the long rectangular room. And whoever had been here before had been very 'creative' with her fellow 'captives.'

The Legion saucers hadn't stood a chance against the Order Knights. But they had granted the villain a golden opportunity. When the Legion had gone outside the range of Angel Island's sensory instruments, they had not soon after seen the Vengeance rise out of the ocean, where it had laid hidden when the Special had passed over it.

Riahta had spent so much effort getting through the looking glass and creating his Knights in the first place, he had neglected many of the finer details of his operation.

Riahta had been certain that Angel Island would be super-fortified on this world like it was in his. Thus half the reason for his Knights in the first place. However, being overly cautious, Riahta chose to lie and wait, bringing the Vengeance below the ocean waves. Riahta hoped for the Special and Angel Island to exchange some secret passcode he could use to get past the Island's defenses. He figured it would be more time-effective however to take the Special and extract the information out of the pansies.

However when all Riahta heard was _talk_ between the ship and island, he figured there had to be some secret code phrase or something! There was no way they would just let anyone onto the island just at voice value. It was that logic that prevented Riahta from taking the Special, murdering its occupants, and going inside and landing on the island that way.

Riahta wasted all his time trying to figure out the code phrase Knuckles must have said to allow himself entry. That was when the Legion showed up. Riahta of course thought they had to be the EST of this world. It was the black cloaks that threw him off-center and made him reconsider some of his original preconceptions.

Sensing that they were outside of the range of Angel Island's observation, Riahta had the ship rise from the deep, and had his Knights attack. It had been an all out slaughter. The Legion was cut to pieces. The Knights proved super effective against the Legion's machines and their inferior cybernetic enhancements.

He brought back a few for information. Most told him to 'Die ancient evil Guardian,' while a couple sung like Flickies. Not that most of the information he got made much sense. He did learn what the 'Dark Legion' was, and that the EST in this world were much more foolish and weak-willed (merciful and compassionate) and weren't likely for some very odd reason to destroy on sight a helpless, harmless, severely damaged Legion ship making a crash landing, which gave Riahta (amazingly enough) an idea. One that hadn't occurred to him when the Special had flown by.

He also wanted to try and find something useful to do with his 'prisoners of war' so he chose to let his artistic side out.

Some looked like they had become totally robotic and had parts replaced with organic components, standard cybernetic patterns completely inverted, a twitching hand on a completely machine arm and an eyeball inside a wholly automaton head. Not to mention body parts Julie would swear could never be replaced with cybernetics and yet for all appearance had been! While the robotic whole was dead still, the organic pieces twitched endlessly. One who had been mostly cybernetic and now was mostly organic moaned in pain, her entire body covered in sweat, her body being kept alive through Riahta's black magic. Julie recognized her as Janice-Mi, one of Lien-Da most outspoken supporters.

There were some whose machine parts had become 'alive' and taken on a cancerous growth property, expanding, twisting, warping into something that could never hope to carry out it's assigned role, looking like silver balloons pressing against the helpless flesh. Though his cybernetic eye smushed out much of his face now, she recognized one with a gasp. It was Jadin, she had played cards with him regularly before she had left the Legion, she never could see through his poker face. Now his face just showed silent pain.

Julie saw another female Legionnaire (for all the Legion's flaws, sexism had never been one of them) whose cybernetic arm and leg had twisted into countless wires and cords, all of them exploring every opening the woman had, above and below, Julie saw the woman couldn't even blink away her tears. Julie struggled but couldn't remember what her name was, only that they had said hello to each other every morning and evening at target practice and weapon upkeep. Julie actually felt a tad ashamed.

One particularly perverted one had started out male, but as his cybernetics grew, covering his body completely, he became decidedly female, but the cybernetics as they changed became solid lifeless black metal. Julie could tell the process had already reached his heart and lungs, he wasn't shouting out in agony. She knew she had seen him before, oh right, he had almost successfully sniped her after her defection, Zachary.

Many of the others she saw didn't move at all, they were (mercifully) completely and utterly (peacefully) dead. Riahta was no master necromancer; these weren't coming back into his or his master's painful grip anytime soon.

Julie recognized many others of the ones here, (how couldn't she?), they had been comrades in arms once upon a time after all. And though she had walked away from the Legion, and had on occasion fought against them after that, seeing her old teammates like this was chilling.

Julie was a solider: more battle hardened than most in this world, death was an old friend. But such sheer desecration of the dead and dying, it was hideous, grotesque.

At that moment, threads of darkness snaked down from the ceiling and twisted around themselves, condensing into the shape of what might have once been an echidna.

For a moment she thought it was Athair, but no, Athair's wrinkles covered his body in a much more graceful manner. This man's skin was like a canvas stretched too thin. And Athair's staff didn't look like something you'd find in a demon-worshipper's closet. And while Athair's expression was always abrasive, this man's face had the sadistic pleasure of a low-class thug. "My nightingale is awake, ready to sing for me my dear?" And while Athair's voice was older than old, at least it sounded alive. "Our other birdies couldn't seem to carry a tune; I hope that you can perform better than they did."

Julie breathed out, knowing she was dead no matter what she said, she just wished he'd come a little closer so she could bite off his nose and shallow it. "I hope you rot in hell and that Chaos never gets bored of raping your ass." She could just hope the Devil Chao gave her old teammates ringside seats.

As if reading her mind Riahta said, "You say that as if they were ever people. They're just cannon fodder, meaningless grunts with meaningless lives; no one is going to weep for them now that they're gone."

At that moment…

Lien-Da sat in her private chambers, her bodyguard Xenin standing at attention without word or motion as he always did. He was almost as heavily modified as Dimitri himself, a sad side-effect of a run-in Xenin had with the Guardian Knuckles. After the reconstructive surgery was done, there was little left of the living part of the Legionnaire.

On the plus side, one of the Guardians stooges, (Mightor wasn't it?) the self-proclaimed 'strongest thing alive' had shattered his hand when trying to give Xenin a Sunday punch one time.

Lien-Da's warm fuzzy nostalgia on that cheerful event itself was shattered when her door burst open (she made a note to publicly execute her security lock's repair man) revealing a dyed green echidna with cybernetic forearms and forelegs looking frantic and scared and near-delusional. Who was this again? She could never remember the names of any of her troops. Fred? Frank? Freda? Oh yes, heh, Francis.

The echidna looked around Lien-Da's quarters as if thinking he'd find something that belonged to him in his mistresses' rooms. The fool took no notice of Xenin in the least. He rushed over and grabbed the collar of Lien's skintight black body suit, actually shaking her. Francis wailed, "Where is Zachary! Where is he?! You said he'd come back a hero! Where is he?!"

Lien looked impassively at her bodyguard. "Who is Zachary again?" She asked calmly as Francis continued to drench her bosom.

Xenin thought for a moment before responding politely. "I think he's one of the Legionnaires you sent against the aliens from our party."

"Miss Lien-Da, please, you have to help me, I have to find Zachary!" Francis cried again.

"Relative?" Lien-Da asked, getting annoyed, though none of it showed on her face at all.

Xenin continued to speak in his even tone. "No madam."

"Oh," Lien-Da said, still not caring in the slightest.

Emotionally distraught, Francis had no idea how much danger he was in.

"Mistress you have to find Zachary! He's out there somewhere, I know he is! Maybe the aliens have him! We have to save him we have to!" Then Francis made the mistake of touching the exposed fur below Lien's neck. Lien's eyes shot wide, and her expression shifted so dramatically it was as if her very face had transformed into something non-echidna. No one laid a finger on her, no one! No one had a right to come into contact with her perfect body!

"Don't you dare touch me you filthy deviant!" Lien-Da pulled at the Legionnaire's wrists, her own cybernetics crushing his and moving his arms ways they shouldn't go. She kicked him hard, knocking him against the reinforced steel door. "Xenin!"

Her bodyguard calmly proceeded to beat the already emotionally devastated man into a pulp. Lien's expression went back to its calm and collected look. She ignored the poor soul's yelps and screams as her attack dog had its way with him. She had much more important things to do anyway.

"Black Bishop takes White Queen, check," She said.

Her computer responded instantly. "White Pawn moves forward one space, upgrade to White Knight, checkmate." Lien in a rage sent a hammer fist through the glass halo imager.

Lien-Da and people like her always did underestimate the significance of pawns.

Riahta just sneered at this Julie's incredibly long list of choice words for him. While playful taunts from his Julie had always infuriated him, here he knew he was in control, in control at last.

"Let us begin my dear." The threads of darkness came out of his staff and began to wrap their way around her.

"Whatever you do to me, whatever you try, Knuckles will come for me, and he will kill you."

"My dear, what makes you think your Knuckles is even coming? When the good princess was my prisoner he came like a red avenger, nothing could stop him. He transcended death even and assumed power he never had before. All for her. You? Where is he now? Why hasn't he come to rescue you by now? Could it be he's found someone else, or perhaps you were just a placeholder until he could get back into the arms of the one he truly loved?"

"Knuckles would never leave me for her! I know it!"

"You said you know, but you don't. You know there's something between them that there isn't between you and him."

"That's not true!"

"Besides, she's royal blood, he is a Guardian. Though I guess you have that claim too." He mocked Knuckles' voice. "Dear cousin."

Julie started and openly sweatdropped at this. "So many times removed it's a joke! Sorry prune face! Vector's played that card way too many times!"

"Heh. Or so you say. Or so you say to yourself. How do you know that one little genetic similarity won't be enough to spawn a twisted child?"

"It won't be! Genetics don't work that way!"

"Or maybe Knuckles knew there was no hope of you producing a stable child, and thus could pursue a relationship with you."

Julie actually blushed. "We aren't even there yet!"

"Oh, then maybe he just realized he didn't want to give himself to someone whose mother was a toaster!"

Behold Lien and Julie's one shared trait: "Don't you dare talk about my mother! She was treated like an imposter by her own step-children then betrayed by them!"

"Your mother's name was Mary. As in Mary-Su. You know what that's a name for? An author self-insertion in a story, written to be perfect and outclass every other character. So in a sense, she _was_ an imposter! And that makes you the child of a self insertion, making you an even more shallow, meaningless, and short-lived character!"

Julie sweatdropped again at Riahta's clearly insane and nonsensical logic. Perhaps the old fool had been skipping his medication. "This isn't that kind of story!"

"Our stories are what others make them. We are defined by everyone around us except ourselves. For instance: for those dear to you, if they judge you, you feel their words must be true, long term allies, family, friends, it doesn't matter, they pass judgment on who you are. Every attempt to define one's self is meaningless."

"That's a lie!" That was when Julie realized during their discussion Riahta had teleported them to another room in the Vengeance, though she was still bound to the wall. The wall went in all directions as far as the eye could see. It was lit, but Julie couldn't see anything beyond her except a veil of darkness. Riahta stood on thin air, right where he had before, grinning like a devil.

"No my dear, it is the single, genuine absolute, truth." The shackles split apart like wounds, and Julie fell,

and fell,

and fell,

farther,

deeper,

darker.

She hit water, or what could have been water, she couldn't tell, it was black and tasteless. She struggled to stay afloat, but she had little experience in swimming, and the 'water' didn't support her buoyancy.

She couldn't feel anything beneath her. She was going to drown.

That was when she saw them. It was Knuckles and Sally. They made it! She didn't care that Sally was so close to Knuckles at the moment…or that they were smiling at each other…and ignoring her completely…or that she was hanging onto his arm…or that he had his other arm around her…hey!

"Knuckles, help!" She cried out, making a note to herself to shoot Knuckles in the knee later for this.

Knuckles looked startled, as if just noticing her. He calmly placed hand on his chin, stroking a non-existent beard, and said casually, "Nah."

"What!" Julie screamed as the liquid invaded her mouth.

"It was a nice run but it's just not the same, see ya Julie." And the two just walked off on the liquid surface.

Julie called out again, or tried to; as the water filled her lungs and she gagged and sunk like a rock. Darkness consumed her vision.

…

Julie woke up dry as a bone, and blinked away at several bright lights above her. Was she outside? Once her eyes adjusted she saw the source of the illumination was several stage lights. Standing up confused and padding herself for damage, she looked around trying to figure just where she could be. She was on a flat wood stage; the theater was empty.

That was when she saw the most wonderful woman in the world a few yards away from her.

"Mom!" Julie rang and hugged her mother. "I'm so glad you're all right, I thought you were-" Her purple furred mother didn't say a word. Nor did she move an inch. It took a second for Julie to realize something even grander was wrong, her mother's body felt… flat. Julie realized she was hugging a cardboard cutout.

"Sick joke." Julie spat. She kicked the stage prop in two.

"No sweetie," said the pieces of the flat image on the ground, turning Julie's blood to water. "Just reality."

Julie took a step back, only to realize something was very wrong. She looked down at herself, and saw her arms, her legs, and her entire body, was now just a 2-D flat image. She'd have gasped if she had lungs. She couldn't move because she didn't have muscles. However as fate would have it, she was standing right on top of a crack in the stage, and she slipped between the planks to the darkness below.

…

She hit something soft, and found she was 3-D again and very much alive. What was going on here? Was this Hell? She was surrounded by giant stuffed toys: all of them brightly colored and cheerful. What was sickening about then was that each was twisted and warped, cloth and stuffing imitations of victims of the most horrendous birth defects.

Julie's ears picked up a child's voice bordering in infanthood, singing the song, "Ashes, ashes, all fall down!" Yep, definitely Hell.

Following the song a very short distance, Julie found the singer, the figure the opposite of the voice's impression. The creature was squat, and while perhaps a child, there was no symmetry in any of its body parts. As to what gender it was, Julie couldn't hope to tell. Its patches of fur were bright red, while its spines and head fur were pink with violet highlights. Where had she seen those colors before?

It turned and Julie openly gasped. Its face was a hideous mix of cybernetics and living flesh. Its features were also very familiar. "Mommy?" It said, reaching out its arms for a hug.

"Nooooo!" Julie clawed at her own face and screamed in abject horror, and didn't stop.

…

Riahta looked down at the quivering woman at his feet, her eyes wide and seeing nothing, her mouth open and saying nothing.

In spite of the absolute absurdity of the experiences Riahta had run Julie's mind through, his verbose speech had given him the proper distraction needed to have his dark threads infiltrate her brain, and like a dream, accept the reality of whatever was happening to her, no matter how impossible. If Julie had been in her right mind, she would have spat at such transparent means of torture. But Riahta, for all his flaws, was a prince at making people believe what he wanted them to believe.

The room she was in was perfectly lit, then again it always had been. They were still surrounded by the desecrated remains of the Legion pilots, like they had been the entire time. Now that he had broken the mind, it was time to grind it into dust, and then proceed to rebuild the body into a wonderfully terrible weapon. Her cybernetics would make the job much more efficient than if he were to create another one from a pure organic, and since healing was a white magic trait, it was actually less costly than the healing of his knights! Too bad he found that out after all his prisoners were rendered useless. Oh well.

Still grinning, Riahta dove into Julie's mind to peel back another layer of her awareness.

As said before, if there was one thing you couldn't fault Angel Island for, it was having a generic landscape. No two spots on the island were truly the same. Case in point, the island's jungle green had given away to bizarre wonders the likes of which for average Mobians had never been seen.

Amy couldn't take it. "Will someone tell me _please_ why we're walking through hills of giant mushrooms!" She kicked a red and white one that was taller than some trees in the Great Forest.

Knuckles only glanced at her. "You ask a lot of questions for a ditz."

Amy stomped the ground angrily. "I am not a ditz!"

Now Bunnie couldn't take it. "Will ya two either fall en love or knock et off!"

This was enough to silence everyone for a minute.

Then everyone burst out laughing.

"Me and Knucklehead married," Amy gasped, "As if that's even possible!"

Meanwhile in a stunningly close alternate reality…then again you can likely guess: red with locks and pink with quills can go together and produce an impressive litter of cute lavender and at the end of the day are two hearts beating as one. Back on this trail of possibilities however with the humongous fungus:

"So how long till deshortcut is, ah, among us?" Said Bunnie after having burnt through the funny.

"We'll be there soon enough don't worry."

"We better or you'll face my fury," Amy injected.

~One more rhythm and I'll scream, ~ Hershey thought.

Thankfully for Hershey, Knuckles knew every nook and cranny on Angel Island better than the back of his claws. What would have taken someone else days or weeks to find for the Guardian was just a boy scout's march. After passing a few more building-sized mushrooms that no one in their right mind would dream of eating and going under a low stony ridge the lot came to a steep cliff.

Knuckles stopped and said, "Here we are."

"This is it?" Amy blinked.

Sally smiled at the warm memories she had of this spot.

Knuckles smirked at her. "What did you expect? A switch you could just step on to make the door open? If it was that simple than anyone could come right in."

"So wha' do we do ta open et?"

"'We' do nothing. Please stand back and watch." Knuckles breathed in deep, closed his eyes, stretched his muscles, and concentrated. The Guardian's eyes shot open and he made several symmetrical hand signs, too fast for even Amy to follow, which should have been impossible.

Finally Knuckles made a cry of exertion, thrusting his hands forward. Several of the dirty beige boulders on the rock face fused together, becoming a single semi-circular piece. Seven runes, incomprehensible to the ladies, glowed into being on the giant rock, an eighth symbol coming into being in the center of the runes' half-circle. It was ancient edchidna (as if there was any other kind).

Defying the laws of gravity, the boulder, proving to be flatter than it gave the idea of being, rose up against the cliff face, revealing a tunnel just tall enough for the average Mobian to stand in. The passage was roughly cut, and glowed with its own blue light, coming from an endless collection of crystals imbedded in the indigo, almost black rock.

Everyone except Sally stood with their jaws open. Knuckles calmly walked inside the revealed secret passage.

"How tha' heck da ya do dat?" Bunnie babbled.

"What?" Knuckles this time struggled not to smile. "Did you think the job description just called for me knowing how to punch people out?" Knuckles calmly looked up at the boulder which slowly but surely was beginning its downward decent. "I suggest you ladies come in before you're left outside."

Sally calmly stepped through. Bunnie followed her best friend in a rush. Taking one last good outside Hershey followed suit. Amy was thrown a little off-kilter by Knuckles doing something mystical not related to blowing stuff up and was almost left behind when she finally took note of the falling rock and did the best sprint that she could muster.

The boulder fell completely, and went back to being several disconnected rocks. Shut off from the sunlight, the group could now fully appreciate their surroundings. The blue light left all of their fur in a different tint, giving even themselves an otherworldly feel.

The crystals themselves gave off more than just light; a slight hum was present right at the edge of their range of hearing, except for Bunnie of course for which it came through load and clear.

Even Hershey, who wasn't known for appreciating the artistic, admitted to herself that there was an eerie beauty to this place.

"Congratulations ladies," Knuckles said, breaking the spell for the moment. "With the exception of Sally you're now the first non-islanders to ever set foot in this secret path to Hidden Palace."

"You mean Sonic and Tails didn't come through here?" Amy asked, they were heading towards the Master Emerald, and Amy remembered Sonic and Tails' story about Robotnik's theft of the giant green rock and their heroic feats to get it back, so she figured they had to have gone the same route.

"Not a chance. They did some skipping through the geothermal chambers that run under the Sandopolis desert," Knuckles said confidently, not knowing how very right and very wrong he was.

"Sure are a lot of 'Opolis'' in the world," Amy said.

"Guess people back then didn't have much imagination," Hershey commented.

"Or maybe whoever translated the old name didn't do a good job." Sally thought.

"Or maybe we should get moving." Knuckles knew they had nearly all the time in the world inside that moment, but he had no desire to be trapped in the middle of three ladies and one child during 'girl talk.'

"Good point," Bunnie admitted. "Well, yer our tour guide, lead on."

Knuckles nodded. "I will, not that it's possible to truly get lost, the passage doesn't split off at all."

"The sooner we begin the sooner it's over, let's go," Sally said.

And so the long march began, leaving the group plenty of time to their own thoughts. Though to be perfectly honest, that could have been the last thing they wanted.

Sally struggled with how she was going to save Sonic and Miles from Riahta when they didn't even want to be saved. Athair's words to Knuckles gave her some comfort, if she could trust the old man to begin with of course.

Hershey of course had the task of repeatedly burying the demon of depression that continued to dig up through the steel-hard layers of duty she kept placing on top of it. She also knew she didn't have time to get depressed until the last of the Knights, her own creations in a way, were gone!

Bunnie considered if what Hershey had done to Lex was truly the right thing, not that they could go back in time to repair it anyway if it wasn't. She could only hope they didn't have to repeat it with anyone else.

Knuckles' every thought, though he refused to show it, was burning on Julie, how could he save her, when would he save her, and how he would make Riahta pay so dearly for daring to take her away from him.

Amy's thought of course were on Miles, she had no doubts she could save him, reach the Miles who was still inside that metal beast, born of out of bloodthirsty revenge against Geoffrey for betraying them. Wait a minute...

"Something just occurred to me," Amy thought out loud.

"Yes?" Knuckles said, looking back but still moving.

"Why didn't Soni…Lightspeed kill Hershey? When the Knights came to Knothole?"

"I don't think it was programmed in them to," Sally said.

"Eh?"

"In your opinion, as someone close to Sonic and Tails," Sally admitted. "Would they ever do what they're doing now?"

Amy knew what she said next was truth. "Never."

"My point exactly. I realized the same thing back at Knothole. You're right Amy, everything points to what Sonic and the others are doing as superimposed over their real personalities, and all their insults and rants as being scripted."

"So we're back ta knowing what we did from tha start." Bunnie reflected. "They are still alive in there."

"As long as they're brainwashed though it isn't going to stop them from killing us," Hershey pointed out.

Sally had an answer to that. "We've been able to bring people out of their trance-like state when roboticized for a short time, and we can here too!"

"This isn't roboticization, we all know that," Hershey said.

"Maybe not, but that doesn't change the fact that Miles reacted to Amy, not once, but twice! I noticed it during the fight." Sally reminded them of that sliver of hope.

"It also doesn't change the fact we can't let them kill us either,"

Amy didn't even look at the black cat and spoke in a strangely bland tone for her usually energetic self. "I think you're just scared that if we manage to save anyone they'll never forgive you."

Hershey hissed, showing fangs. "If it was your precious Tails who did what my Geoffrey did, could you have accepted what was going on as reality?"

Amy raised an eyebrow at the cat. –_Your_ Jeffery? – She thought.

Hershey understood the message loud and clear and her features fixed in a feral snarl. –Yes, _my_- Jeffery. I love a dead man. Cats EAT rodents hedgehog, so if you want to start a fight go right ahead.-

Bunnie did the smart thing and stepped right between them, shoving them to the cave walls.

"So Knuckles why didn't ya really want ta bring along all yer buddies?" Bunnie redirected the discussion away from bloodshed.

"The fewer who know of Hidden Palace's existence and Hidden Palace's location, the better. A secret is easier to keep when you have the least amount of people know about it. Look at how many people have tried to take the Master Emerald just knowing it's here on Angel Island. If word got out of its exact location, it would be an open invitation to every thief and warlord on the planet. Look at what's happened already by Sonic and Tails knowing! Riahta attacked Echidnaopolis clearly looking for something, then after kidnapping Julie near the end of the fight instead of right away, he hightails it to along the lines of Hidden Palace. The only ones in Riahta's control who knew where the Master Emerald was are Sonic and Tails."

Amy never knew when not to press her luck. "What about Julie?"

Knuckles' voice was perfectly calm. "Bring up that idea again, and I'll break every bone in your body."

For once, Amy backed down.

"Personally," Bunnie commented. "If ya had more than one guy guardin' tha thing you'd be a lot better off."

Knuckles shook his head. "I made mistakes with Robotnik; I won't ever make them again."

"Most certainly," Sally said, "Having the people not know where the foundation of their home is sure has prevented everyone else from knowing."

Knuckles listed off the number of species who didn't know. "The Dragons don't know, the Flickies don't know, the Terrans don't know, the average Mobian doesn't know."

"Don't Dimitri, and thus the Dark Legion know?" Sally asked.

Knuckles shook his head. "They've never actually made a go for the Master Emerald, since that first time with Dimitri and my ancestor Edmund."

"Don't you mean Dimitri's brother Edmund?" Sally corrected.

Knuckles groaned, Sally truly did know more about echidna culture than most echidnas.

"Wha' are these thangs anyway?" Bunnie asked, gesturing at the glowing crystals. "They look like, well, I dunno how ta say et without soundin' geeky."

Knuckles shrugged. "The best theory I've been able to come up with is they're demi-chaos emeralds and act as conductors for the Master Emerald's power throughout the island, allowing it to float in the sky. I've never really considered it important enough to research when I've got Robotnik on the outside and the Dark Legion on my back."

"So we're all in tha veins of the island so ta speak?"

Knuckles nodded. "In so many words of poor grammar yes."

"Hey!"

"I'm just saying…"

Hershey now injected. "It's weird how except for the Flickies, we separate races, Terrans, Mobians, and Dragons all have the same language? We've all abandoned our old tongues in favor of Terran?"

"That always did strike me as just plain strange," Sally said. "The only theory I've ever heard of that even remotely makes sense is the One Race One People theory."

Hershey raised an eyebrow. "You mean that crackpot piece of Terran propaganda that all races were originally 'humans', the five-fingered Terran sub race? And that the arrival of the chaos force deviated the species into what they are today while the chaos force at the same time created a shadow history?"

"I know the way it was presented stank of being used to justify their campaign, but if you go back and look at the actual notes of the original science and religious groups that actually worked together on it, you'll see it actually makes a genuine amount of sense."

"It's impossible," Hershey waved off.

"Nothing is impossible with the chaos force," Knuckles said.

"You believe this?" Hershey didn't believe this.

"I don't care one way or another, the past of others does not decide who you are in the present," Knuckles said sagely.

Hershey rolled her eyes. "Looks who sounds like a deep philosopher."

"I'm just speaking my opinion on the subject."

"This is taking forever! We should have taken one of your space ships and flown there," Amy whined.

Knuckles wondered how anyone could stand to be around this outspoken lass for all of ten minutes without wanting to be rid of her. "One, they're not space ships. Two, it's totally underground, and there's no direct entrance from the surface. And three, we're making better time through here than even Sonic could hope to make above ground."

"That makes no sense! A turtle on the surface could outpace us at the rate we're going at!" Amy protested.

"Actually you'll find that only a minute will have gone by, by the time we reach the palace."

"Are you insane? That's stupid! We've been in this tunnel for at least an hour!"

"No, but you'll wonder if you're crazy if you keep insisting there is nothing beyond your own meager perceptions."

~I thought it was half an hour~ Hershey thought.

~Girl's losin' it. It's been an hour and a half at least.~ Bunnie concluded.

"You're all cracked."

"To spell it out for the dense: trace amounts of chaos energy flow through here, it screws up both time's flow and your perception of it."

"Trust me Amy," Sally said, "It's true. I had to reset Nicole's internal clock last time I went through here." Of course, back then Sally thought Nicole was good for nothing except playing Mrs. Pac-Man and Knuckles had shown the route to her just to show how cool he was. Sally had just been lucky to leave Nicole with the elderly Rosey the day of the coup: or the little machine would have been lost forever.

"Just have a little faith." Knuckles said.

"They're almost here."

"We should have a proper welcome for them then."

"The emerald chamber is the most logical spot to greet them."

"I already have the special weapon ready for them."

"So soon?"

"Better sooner than later, I always say."

"What do you think his reaction will be?"

"We'll know soon enough, whatever it is; it's bound to be very interesting indeed."

At last, Knuckles said, "We're here."

Hidden Palace was magnificent. Even in the underground of the floating island, even hidden from the sun, it was beautiful. For what you'd swear was miles you could see towering thick azure and cobalt rough uncut pillars rising up in the city-sized cavern, reaching up to touch the ceiling that felt more like a sky as you looked up at it. And all this was still just the backdrop to the painstakingly created work of art that was these sacred grounds. The palace towered over all who entered its resting place. Its blue floors and ceilings and emerald green walls left you thinking you truly had left their own world behind. The palace was one with its home, but it was impossible to tell if parts of the palace had materialized inside solid stone, or whether the palace had actually grown from the rocks themselves.

They were still totally underground, but you could tell only if you looked up at the stalactite covered ceiling.

The glowing crystals that had been in the tunnel looked like sprinkles on ice cream, added on, forced into the walls or perhaps pushed through them from inside the rock. Here the light blue stones all gave off their own light, but much cleaner, purer. The phosphorus crystals were so fine as to be microscopic, yet the radiance was nearly as bright as daylight.

The design of the palace's overall shape reminded one of a fountain, with flat levels stacked on top of each other, or perhaps it would be better to say, supported one another. Many of these levels had no stairwells or footholds leading to them, if one wanted to set foot upon them, you would have to fly. The levels grew both larger and smaller as you rose up, each one looking perfectly in place all the same. And it was all so smooth, nothing looked added on or forced, everything looked to be part of the whole.

The tunnel they had been traveling in opened up at what could have been the lowest level of the palace, giving them a grand view of the majestic structure. No one broke the silence; they were standing in the true heart of Angel Island, none of them were willing to disturb the moment. Secretly, it was all Sally could do not to tear off her token attire and begin to dance nude where she stood. Something about this place just called to her, telling her to discard the transient material and become one again with the spiritual essence from which she had been born. Sally shivered, but she'd be lying if she told herself it was from fear or a chill.

Knuckles just drank it in. Here he was truly internally calm and totally confident. This was his home, even more than the wilds of Angel Island's jungles. This was where he belonged. Here he was whole. Here he was complete. Here he was calmer and more in control than anywhere else. He was the Guardian, a protector, an interpreter, a medium, here, above all places, he understood.

Not giving nor expecting any words from his companions, Knuckles led the way, walking along the smooth path elevated above the boulders below. He didn't bother to look at the gaping hole in one of the bolder formations, a reminder of the time Knuckles had pulled one of the giant rocks out of its place, and then proceeded to try knock Sonic and Tails over like bowling pins back when he thought they were the enemy opposed to Robotnik. That had been quite the solid strike.

As they climbed the grand stairs that lead into the palace's interior, Hershey noticed the lack of dust on anything. Did Knuckles clean this place regularly? Or was this, another trick of chaos magic?

No one noticed the lack of statues, or other such altars to personalized pride and self-image, whoever had built the palace had wanted their work to stand on its own, rather than for their own sake.

Bunnie could only wonder at the amount of work and effort that must have gone into this palace. It sure made her feel small, but in a nice way.

Amy had to admit, the digs sure did have a nice plush red carpet for a welcome mat, she wondered if she could get some for her and Miles' place, maybe it would transfer some of the feeling of the divine that was running through her right now.

"Where are we going?" Sally whispered, though she was not sure whom she would upset if she yelled, just that it would be improper.

"The Emerald Chamber, maybe I can gain enough power to transform into my chaos form again." Plus, Knuckles wanted to sense the Master Emerald's take on all this, while he knew how stubborn it could be about giving away knowledge it didn't want to, he doubted it would deny his request today.

While following Knuckles' lead through the cathedral sized hallways, each of the women took note of the giant images to their sides.

On the walls of the indefinite long halls inside the palace proper that the heroes walked through were countless mosaics. Each mosaic telling of past events, current occurrences, and prophecies of every possible future related to the Chaos' Emeralds. If an artist took note of a mosaic, and left to tell his friends, good luck on ever finding that particular mosaic again. For these mosaics didn't display what visitors wanted to see, but what they needed to know.

While there were those who thought these pictures were meaningless, this was only because the mosaics they were looking at were not for them to understand. For those who they were meant for, the mosaics conveyed their message of 'what was', 'what is', and 'what could be.'

Athair once told Knuckles of a mosaic the echidna had seen in his youth. But it had not been a prediction, it had been a parable. The details of the picture mattered to no one but Athair, but what was in them, he had felt compelled to share.

There had been two kingdoms, reflections of each other, in both a prophet appeared to warn of a disaster to come, the people ignored him, and the disaster occurred. Then the prophet warned of another disaster, one even worse than the first. Now the two kingdoms split from each other. In one, the people actually listened this time and prepared for the disaster. In the other, the people killed the prophet, convinced his prophecies were causing the disasters to happen, and were caught by the disaster unprepared. When Knuckles had asked if there had actually been a point to that fairy tale Athair had said, 'It means pay attention to road signs kiddo.'

As far as Knuckles had been concerned at the time, the people should have killed the prophet after the first disaster. Prophecies were always counter-productive in Knuckles' opinion. Thus his reason for totally ignoring the mosaic he had seen that foretold Robotnik stabbing him in the back and stealing the Master Emerald. Robotnik was his buddy, or so Knuckles had thought at the time. Maybe if he had paid attention to it, maybe he wouldn't have had to endure all those meaningless fights with Sonic, and maybe Angel Island wouldn't have come close to being smashed into the ocean.

But Knuckles wasn't going to bother with these echoes of the possible today, he was going to get what he needed to know right from the source, the Master Emerald.

Hershey on a mosaic saw herself and Jeffery back to back: between them a small black fire bloomed. And that fire continued and consumed everything in its path until it was put out by a maroon hedgehog.

Hershey shuddered and closed her eyes, but the image remained in her mind.

Sally saw a mosaic of herself with gold eyes, she and allies fighting an army of …kitsune? There was so much death. And right at the center in the after math, when everyone else was gone, crying, was her Miles.

What Bunnie saw actually made her blush, but did give her some idea on what she could try out later. She wasn't half as surprised about who was with her than she thought she'd be. She always did think he was kind of cute in his own way.

As for what Amy saw, she wondered, was this some sort of gag? No way could that happen, never in a million years, she had buried that problem to rot long ago. Plus it was too good to be true.

Making it past the endless halls of destiny (or more like being allowed to) the group came to a dead end. Wrong turn? The look in Knuckles' eyes of course told a different story.

Everyone stood back for Knuckles to make another grand performance to open another secret portal; instead he did the last thing anyone would suspect in a lifetime that was needed to gain entry to Angel's single most important treasure.

"Please allow me to commune with you Master Emerald," Knuckles asked politely. The next moment the wall wasn't there anymore. No special effects, no fanfare, no drama, it was simply gone from the universe.

Knuckles calmly stepped in. The Freedom Fighters followed, wondering if this door was on a timer as well. While one could question the reason of opening the treasure chest to protect a jewel from your enemy, the barrier would have reappeared in an instant to any threat, and the enemy would have to smash their way through anyway, so it actually made no difference.

Knuckles frowned at the egg-shaped repair job on one of the other Emerald Chamber walls. That was something he hoped never have to have a flashback for. It was from when he and Sonic had their climatic brawl, and it was cut short only when Knuckles had felt the Emerald Chamber being intruded upon. That was when Knuckles had learned who the real enemy was. Sonic had berated him repeatedly that Knuckles should have figured it out a lot soon than that. So what if Robotnik's second launching of the Death Egg had knocked Knuckles into Launch Base's lake without any regard for Knuckles' fate, unlike some people, Knux knew how to swim.

It had taken Robotnik's blunt betrayal of breaking into the Emerald Chamber, and taking the hapless Master Emerald from its resting place, to open Knuckles' eyes. Knuckles stopped himself before he dove deeper into the past, this was the present, this was the now, and here in the true center of Angel, he refused to let himself face doubt or self-excuses for his own failings.

The Emerald Chamber's walls were made out of the same dark, almost black, blue stone that surrounded Hidden Palace, only the floor was level and smooth. At the center of the chamber, nay, at the exact center of the entire island, lay the reason for so much conflict, progress, happiness, and grief. It sat lazily in its round crystal bed of stillborn green chaos emeralds, rising above everything else in the relatively modest chamber. It glowed with its own inner light, slowly turning counter-clockwise of its own accord. Its pointed base lay buried in its resting place, leaving only its uppermost facets and top visible.

Knuckles could never tell how much the Master Emerald could 'see', all he knew for certain was that if it concerned the Master Emerald, then the Master Emerald knew it!

There were seven other raised platforms, the pillars made of black marble, each topped with a huge holder, its out side shaped like a four-leafed flower with a violet coloring, all of them crystal. They sat with six in a circle around the Master Emerald, and the seventh one near the base of the main emerald's bed. These were the resting places of the Chaos Emeralds; or rather the gigantic Super Emeralds when they came into close contact with their 'parent.' Knuckles still didn't know about Sonic's visit to this sacred place and thus still didn't know how the Super Emeralds had returned even if it was for a brief period of time.

Every time the seven emerald's power was used to temporarily transcend a mortal to demi-godhood, they would scatter, just as often as not returning to their ever changing and always shape-shifting pocket reality nicknamed the 'Special Zone.'

The Freedom Fighters had only a dozen questions to ask Knuckles, as Knuckles only had a dozen questions to ask the Master Emerald.

There was just one problem.

They weren't alone, several times over.

"Welcome," said a dark figure, a billowing black cloud at his feet.

The Freedom Fighters for a moment panicked, had the Knights somehow beaten them here after all? But no, these individuals were most certainly not the Order Knights. For Knuckles however, there was something very familiar about all of them.

They were all echidnas and male, but more importantly, each one gave out an aura that among the Freedom Fighters only Knuckles could sense.

"Nice to finally meet you grandson," the second to youngest one said in an ironic, if friendly tone. "You may call me Sabre." This echidna was brown and bore green eyes -you can guess what type of green.- His white eyebrows stood out on his face. The blue of his one-piece shirt tunic matched his boots.

The next one up the ladder by seniority skipping two generations was another red echidna; he had a beard like the youngest one there and bore a set of green boots and a vest. The most notable feature about him however was a reflective forehead ornament that seemed to have no purpose other than decoration. The look on his face was anything but friendly, even though they were the same height, Knuckles was sure the elder echidna was staring down at him. "My name is Sojourner, fledgling Guardian."

Sojourner's father was easily the most unique, and unusual, echidna there. His fur was bright purple and his head fur and spines were longer than anyone else's there and the most unkempt. He had Sabre's eyebrows, or rather, Sabre had his eyebrows. To finish off his special appearance was a bright blue belted vest with matching colored boots. "I am Thunderhawk," he said in a voice that totally contradicted his appearance. How could someone so odd-looking sound so uppity?

The father of Thunderhawk, well, where to begin? The echidna's fur was black, and his eyes crimson. And he exploited this unsettling combination in his appearance to its fullest. His body was adorned in a black cloak hiding everything but his head from view. His skull and neck were encased in a polished white cybernetic skullcap that trailed down his back to a point likely containing his spines. To finish off this lovely presentation was a dark cloud at his feet that followed him wherever he went, how he maintained it or produced it was anyone's guess. "Spectre," He whispered with a grin, maintaining his dark and frightening motif out of sheer habit. He remembered when he had been lectured by his elder about assuming a dark and frightening image for the Guardian: a motif the first Guardian had considered and rejected. Spectre didn't care. For he knew, those who relied on fear were often the most vulnerable to it. He knew the loophole in that statement though, and was certain to always keep his fighting prowess up to snuff as well.

The oldest one there, but physically appeared to still be somewhere in his prime had brown fur and clothing to match. (Knuckles never understood why any male mobian except the gender confused would ever take to wearing large amounts of clothing regularly; it was itchy and much too hot.) The most interesting piece of his brown attire was an 'Australian' hat that looked suspiciously like Remington's. "And you will call me Hawking, boy," he said in a no nonsense tone.

The last and youngest one there looked to be an elder copy of Knuckles, the only real difference was the white goatee coming down from his muzzle. His body was covered in a short white robe resembling a martial arts master. Knuckles knew who this was instantly. That face so much like his own was burned into Knuckles' memory. "Dad?" Knuckles asked, as if he was addressing a ghost.

"Greeting from the Brotherhood of Guardians, son. Welcome to the family. Sorry I never wrote..." he said quietly and reluctantly.

Knuckles didn't demand to know what these echidnas were doing in the Master Emerald chamber with his father who was very much dead the last time he checked, nor did he get ready to fight them, because all of them (other than his father, for obvious reasons) looked familiar in an eerie sort of way.

Every last one of them had those spiked gloves Knuckles saw every time he looked at his own hands, and much more importantly was that all of them had the white crescent moon fur pattern on their chests, and he knew that only one family line in echidna history ever had that trait. _His _family. (Which probably explained why Locke looked like he fit in so well with them.)

None of them looked nearly as old as they should have. The Master Emerald had given each of its protectors longevity as a way of saying 'thanks for giving up your freedom and social lives to keep woolly mammoths, egg-shaped tyrants, and crazy cyborg echidnas from doing nasty shit with me'. Athair had turned away from this path when he sought the wisdom of the Ancient Walkers, and so unlike the rest of his family showed the full signs of his age. How someone as old as Athair was still able to live at all after losing his standing as a Guardian was a mystery to the brotherhood. The idea that the Walkers had given their agent inner strength as well but he simply didn't believe in maintaining the superficial didn't ever occur to the rather vain Brotherhood.

"Okay," Bunnie said as quietly and formally smiling happily as a lady should. Then she dropped all pretenses. "Whad tha hoppin' hoohahs is goin' on 'round heah!?!"

"Ditto."

"Likewise."

"Count me in."

"What they said!" Knuckles snapped.

"You let aliens into the Emerald Chamber?" Hawking scolded, only now taking notice of the women, "For shame Guardian! For shame!"

"Hawking, not now," Sabre derailed, rolling his eyes as the eldest of the Brotherhood began to go on a typical tirade.

"Knuckles, you know these people?" Sally asked.

"Just one," Knuckles said, looking intently at his father.

"Not every Guardian hands over the mantle at their death, son," Locke told his offspring, his voice weak from the tension of addressing him for the first time in many, many years. "While the current Guardian protects from the front, the Brotherhood of Guardians protects from the shadows."

Knuckles stared wordlessly at the echidna he had not seen for years. The echidna he had thought long dead. The echidna who was his father. There was only one possible response to this undreamed-of reunion. "You unevolved snake!" Knuckles punched Locke square in the jaw.

The elder Guardian flew through the air and skidded across the floor for a few moments before crashing to a stop against a Super Emerald pillar, causing it to wobble. Locke coughed and wiped the predictable trickle of blood from his face. "Feel better?" Locke asked, sounding only somewhat surprised. Sabre took Locke's arm and helped his son to his feet.

"Yes actually, I do," Knuckles told him.

"Now will somebody please fill us in on tha plotline?!" Bunnie demanded.

Knuckles ignored her, Sally didn't. "I think it's safe to say this is Knuckles' father Locke, except he's supposed to be dead!"

"Sure doesn't look that way to me," Amy observed.

Locke had lied about Knuckles' mom being dead, why should Knuckles be surprised Locke would lie about his own death? Knuckles still couldn't believe this new low. "Dad…why?!"

Locke shrugged. "It's tradition for the Guardian to fend for himself, to stand on his own two feet. Otherwise he'll just lean on the previous generations. You had to learn to survive on your own. To endure the pain of loneliness, the pain of loss, and the pain of want, it is a tradition."

"Sometimes tradition is stupid!" Knuckles spat.

"Heh." Locke actually smirked: it looked so much like Knuckles' it was chilling. "I told dad the same thing right after I crescent-kicked him in the ribs."

"I drop-kicked Sojourner after telling him that," Sabre added.

"Thrust kick to the knee," said Sojourner pointing a thumb at Thunderhawk.

"Side fist to the gut," Thunderhawk said, pointing at Spectre.

"I never touched my father," said Spectre. And this was true, he had just sent his father Tobor into a wall telekinetically.

"Unlike the rest of you, I was just happy to see my father Mathias, rest his soul, was still alive!" Hawking spat.

They all rolled their eyes. "Whatever you say, grandfather."

Knuckles stood there, mouth in a perplexed frown. He looked at one echidna to another as he said what had to be said. "So all of you are an ancestor of mine?"

"Great, great, etcetera grandfathers if you like," Spectre said.

Knuckles still didn't want to be told in even the slightest way the anger he was feeling was wrong. He stabbed a finger at Locke. "You abandoned me! You faked your death and left me in that jungle!"

"I was watching you every minute of every day," Locke corrected.

"Like I'm supposed to believe that!"

"It's true, every word," Sabre said blandly, he wished his son didn't end up sleeping in the observation chair. It was bad for his back, and he got enough of that always tinkering with things in his lab. "How do you think you didn't try jumping over a cliff with your spines closed after eating those polka-dotted mushrooms? Or how do you think you found a grape vine on every last one of your birthdays? And let's not forget the broken leg that magically healed itself overnight so you could climb out of the canyon you had fallen into."

"And the broken arm I endured, mended myself as I wandered in the jungle?" Knuckles asked.

Locke shrugged. "I couldn't have you thinking every injury you endured was just going to disappear."

"You're making this up! I would have noticed you if you were really that close!" Knuckles' senses were finely tuned, they had to be to survive Angel's jungles until he was found by his mother, who his father told him was dead too.

Sabre grinned. "Smile grandson, you're on candid camera!"

Knuckles swore he didn't hear that. "What!"

"Just because we adhere to tradition doesn't mean we fear the new," grunted Spectre.

"We've got cameras rigged on just about every inch of Angel Island, save Necronopolis!" Hawkins said cheerfully.

"Including the rooms of all the pretty ladies," Sojourner said dreamily, which earned him a whack from Thunderhawk.

"Quiet, boy! We're supposed to have shut all those off, remember?" the elder echidna hissed.

"Oh, right."

Knuckles hadn't run out of ammo yet. "And the reason you didn't tell me after all these years?!" Knuckles had been 'officially' Guardian for years and had never heard of any of this.

Now there was a look of shame on Locke's face. "Maybe I realized what a stupid decision it was in the first place…Or maybe I didn't want to face you. Or Lara. I suppose I was just afraid…" He shrugged weakly. "Or maybe I got so caught up in protecting the people of Angel Island from the outside world for so long, I didn't know of any other way to live."

Sally dared to step in at this. "You…isn't there enough ignorance in this world? How can you justify building a fantasy around your own people so when the real world comes they're helpless?"

"So they can live their lives in peace," Locke justified.

"That's garbage! Unevolved lambs have peace just before they're slaughtered!"

"We Guardians exist so they _continue_ to live their lives in peace!" Locke protested.

"Yes, and that's worked out so well!" Sally said sarcastically. "I'm sure the Dark Legion would agree wholeheartedly."

"We're here to help," Spectre interrupted. "You can either take it, or not. You can either work with us, or not. This is our home too, in case you're wondering. So we're going to also protect the Master Emerald whether you like it or not. With the exception of Knuckles, princess _you_ are the outside force in this room, so either fight alongside the residents of Hidden Palace or stay out of their way. If you feel your sense of moral superiority is the most important thing here, then I'd be happy to show you the fast way out. You can talk down to us about the social dynamics of our work after the threat to our home is gone."

"Could you old men have helped us out before now? Charmy might still be alive now if we had more help!" Knuckles asked.

"Sometimes help is in a form you don't recognize. Haven't you questioned once just who installed those weapons without the EST's knowledge or who saw through the enemy's illusion and forced them to fight before the enemy was prepared?" Sabre asked.

"You?"

The echidna smirked. "A 'thank you' would be most appreciated. It was supposed to be our welcoming present for the Legion's 'secret' flying saucer air force."

"Why didn't you tell Remington about them?" Knuckles asked.

"It wasn't Remington we didn't trust, you know how the Legion loves planting moles, we even had one in the brotherhood for a time," Locke told him.

Knuckled was stunned. "What?"

"And I still haven't gotten an apology for everyone jumping to conclusions that day," Spectre spat.

"We might not have jumped to that conclusion if you lost the dark and creepy look," Sabre returned.

Spectre grunted. "You perform your duty your way; I'll perform my duty my way. And I told you dad was acting weird, but did any of you listen to me? Noooo!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Okay, granted, but why didn't any of you help when Robotnik stole the Master Emerald?! Or was it one of those 'character building' moments?" Knuckles asked.

Locke sweat dropped. "Heh, funny story 'bout that actually."

"I HAVE RETURNED! COWER BEFORE ME MORTALS! BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER ENERJAK, THE LORD OF NOT ONLY CHAOS AND THE EMERALDS BUT OF ALL LIFE!!!" Bellowed the floating echidna in the Aztec mask, green lightning arcing from his fists in every impossible direction.

"I still say one of us should have stayed on Angel Island to keep an eye on Knuckles," Thunderhawk muttered as the Brotherhood stood before the mad echidna with not-quite delusions of divinity.

"Give my son a little credit; I'm sure he can mind things without us looking over his shoulder for a little while," Locke said confidently, unaware that at that very moment his son was believing that an ugly, egg-shaped fat man who was building ugly robot-producing factories all over the island was his friend and that the blue hedgehog and yellow fox destroying said robots were evil and after the Master Emerald, despite them obviously not knowing about it in the first place.

"I kept the scars from that fight," added Sojourner. "Anyone wanna see?"

"No!" Everyone yelled at him, fearing just where those scars were hidden.

Knuckles sighed. "Okay…you were facing a demi-god in mortal combat for the fate of the world…I guess I can forgive you for not helping me against Robotnik at the same time. Still…you left me out there with just my claws and my wits."

Locke shook his head. "I gave you more than I was allowed to."

Knuckles frowned in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean dad?"

"I told you all he was a disrespectful child," Hawking said. "This is your 'ultimate Guardian', Locke? What a waste."

Now this caught Knuckles' attention. "What does he mean, 'ultimate Guardian?'"

Locke sighed. "I didn't agree with the self-survival stage of the Guardian's training. So I hedged my bets by altering my reproductive DNA to enhance your mental and physical abilities. Then, while you were still in the egg, I had a dream where I saw my son as a man in a fight he couldn't win. So I took your egg, and exposed you to the power of the Master Emerald repeatedly."

'At least now we know what battery Knuckles was tapping into when he transformed at Knothole,' Sally thought, feeling a kinship between Knuckles and herself now. 'Still, if his mental abilities were so enhanced, you'd think he'd have realized Robotnik, the guy who crashed into his island with a giant metal egg and burned the jungle down on Little Sister Angel Island to get ride of th two 'intruders', wasn't his friend.'

Knuckles was shocked. "You screwed with my DNA and exposed me to chaos energy while I still in the egg?"

Locke nodded. "Yes. I gave you an unfair advantage over all the other Guardians with no regard for how the Brotherhood would judge my actions for making thing less hard for you, or how Lara would feel for doing such a thing to our son. It was soon after that she left me."

"Does she know?"

Locke nodded. "She's always known, from the start. She wanted to pretend what I had done to you didn't happen, which is probably why she's never told you."

Knuckles gave his father a miserable and frustrated look. "Did you know that when I met mom that day and saw that she wasn't dead like you told me from the day I was born, it was the single happiest day of my life?"

Locke nodded sadly. "And you're feeling a lot less than that right about now, son. Whether you chose to believe me or not, I do love you, just as I love your mother. I did what I thought was best for my own son, I make no other excuses."

"Hail, hail, the family's all here," said a very familiar voice cheerfully that only brought pain every time Knuckles heard it.

Sally gasped at this echidna as he appeared out of nowhere, he looked just like Riahta, only more, well, alive. And crazier, but 'Fun Uncle Bob' crazy instead of Riahta's 'Scary Psychotic Old Man' crazy.

"How did you get in here, deserter!?" Hawking spat, looking ready to turn the old (younger than him) man inside out.

Athair shrugged. "The Master Emerald let me in."

Knuckles glared at the old echidna suspiciously. He had been fooled enough times today (and for pretty much his entire life), and wasn't eager to be fooled once again. "How do we know you're not Riahta in some illusion?!"

Athair shook his head, looking at the ceiling in exasperation. "Do we really need to do this?"

Knuckles got into a fighting stance. "Answer or die."

Athair sighed. "When you were five, alone in the jungle and crying like a baby, you spotted some grapes, or what you thought were grapes. You proceeded to eat the 'grapes' and-"

"You're Athair!" Knuckles interrupted with haste, not wanting his 'friends' to know of the very embarrassing incident that had resulted in his fur turning pink for a month.

The sage calmly looked from Knuckles' face to Locke's, that slight smile never leaving his face. "So my grandson finally chose to you tell eh? Nice to see all you guys again, wish it were for happier occasions. Oh, and you too son."

"Yes, dad," Sabre grumbled, not looking pleased to see his somewhat insane father.

"And of course howdy to you too." Athair waved at the Master Emerald. While the Mobians wondered if he was crazy, the other Guardians took it rather calmly.

Knuckles blinked. "You knew?"

Athair chuckled good-naturedly. "Come now, how else do you think a youth like you could learn chaos techniques that's taken your ancestors half their lives to master, and still be able to learn martial arts, have a built up body, combat sense, a social life, know every inch of the island's landscape beyond Echidnaopolis, and still be younger than the ones who take orders from you like Remington? Personally I'm surprised at you for not once thinking about that, instead you just accepted it without a second thought. Of course I knew, I was a Guardian too after all. I would have kept watching the show, but I figured I should step in before you declared your eternal indifference or loathing to your own father."

Knuckles glared at said father. "You say that as if I shouldn't."

Athair laughed and tapped Knuckles on the forehead. "Reality check laddie, he's a parent, ticking you off with stuff for your own good is part of the job."

Knuckles openly started at this, blinked and blinked a couple times before getting his composure back.

"And what about you old man? Why didn't you tell me a word of this?"

"It wasn't my place. I was hoping that the moron could realize his error on his own."

"Sunday meddler," Locke grumbled, folding his arms.

"Maybe, but I've never forgotten what was important to me."

"You forgot the Master Emerald!" Locke snapped.

Athair shrugged. "I just found something more important."

"And what was that?" Knuckles _had_ to hear this.

"I fell in love," he said simply.

All stared at him. Well, Knuckles could take comfort that Athair's words hadn't been the _most_ devastating retort he had ever heard…now he just needed to think of what the bigger one was!

"After mother died, the other Guardians came, and demanded Sabre."

"And you gave up your son without a fight," Knuckles said.

"I thought what I had seen away from the island I could teach him, they left out that I and my wife weren't part of the deal."

"It was for the Guardianship," Hawking said. Sabre glared daggers at his ancestor.

"And you did nothing to get him back," Knuckles said, not able to resist a chance to finally take a stab at his elder.

Athair sighed, his usually jovial face showing his age for once. "I was a relatively young man. I start walking with the cane soon after that: you do the math boy. I'm sure you somehow learned to add two and two while swinging from vines and digging for ants as a tyke."

Knuckles sighed, feeling like he was hammering his head against a brick wall. Calming himself, he said, "So what are you doing here really?"

Athair smiled. "I thought you'd want to know, great-grandson, that Riahta is turning Julie onto one of his weapons, be prepared to fight her next time."

Sally gasped. Amy felt faint. What had happened to their dear ones shouldn't have to happen to anyone!

"No…." Knuckles gasped. "I refuse to believe that. She can't be, it's impossible! I have to save her!"

Athair sighed. "For once in the great span of your life, actually pay attention to someone who can see the outcome of some choices! If you go to reclaim Julie right now, you'll join her, no other way around that turn of events. You'll get your chance to save her without killing her soon enough, don't worry."

"Why don't _you_ do something old man? And why didn't you warn me before this was going to happen?" Knuckles demanded.

The aged echidna glared at his descendant. "Contrary to popular belief, I _don't_ get my information mail-order! I don't call them! They call me! Don't you think I would have prevented my mother's own death if I saw it coming?! And don't you think if I could teleport behind my evil twin, explode his brain, teleport out, and have a cup of tea I would?! I can't teleport inside that giant buzzard and any power he and I have only ends up canceling each other out. That's why I couldn't help you in that fight with Riahta's pawns in Knothole. Now you have the choice of belittling yourself and actually heeding my advice, or prove that you won't be used, lectured, or played and get yourself turned into a bio-machine monster. What shall it be my boy?"

"The future isn't written yet! I'm going to save Julie right here, right now, and screw you! And screw your Whoever, Whoever, and of course Whoever!" Before Knuckles had a chance to twitch Athair held Knuckles' head in a surprisingly strong vice grip.

"Get this through your thick, dreadlocked, empty head! It is NOT Whoever! It is NEVER Whoever! The Walker, Aurora, Chaos, the Creator of all things. They aren't our ideas! We're theirs! They aren't an ideal! They aren't stories! They are, very, very, real! More than us! So if you're going to face against a pawn of ultimate evil, don't you DARE think you can do it solo just so you can say later how you did it all by yourself like a two year old who got through potty training!"

Knuckles slammed both his fists into Athair's head, instead smashing his own fists into each other since the old man had vanished, and got knocked on the head by Athair's shapeless wood staff from behind. "Look, you couldn't even teach one rigid, blinded by faith, senile old man the error of his methods with one swift strong blow and a prepared speech about the superiority of the new point of view over the old. Now how about you pretend that you somehow have less experience in things than me, in spite of being nearly a century younger than me and actually heed my advice!"

"I'm betting the rest of the echidnas here could say the exact same thing to you!" Knuckles snapped.

"Yes, I'm a hypocrite, but I like to think that's what makes us better than the robots. Besides, you pick up a few things when you ditch your body and spend most of your time on a higher plane of reality. By the way, Riahta is planning to open a permanent gateway between Mobius Prime and Anti-Mobius to let his masters step through, don't ask me how, but I do know the Master Emerald is at the heart of it. Just thought you'd want to know," Athair said conversationally.

"So they do want the Master Emerald!" Knuckles realized.

Athair nodded. "Most decidedly."

"And you couldn't have told us all this before?! Saved us that meaningless battle in Echidnaopolis?"

"When I first sensed Riahta, my mind touched with his. Him using Sonic as his pawn was at the top, the rest was blurred together, and it's taken me this long to make sense of it!"

"And what did he learn from you when you touched his mind?"

Athair shrugged. "Nothing."

"How can you be so sure?" Knuckles asked doubtfully.

"Because the Ancient Walkers told me."

"And that's that?" the youngest Guardian asked in disbelief.

Athair nodded. "And there's the little detail that my masters don't label me as 'use and discard' in their inventory book. The Dark Walkers are the opposite of my masters after all. The Dark Walkers care nothing for Riahta, his fate, or his desires. This isn't some animated war drama where you blur the black and white until it's nothing but a blob of gray and the hero struggles to bring the war to an end before both sides destroy each other."

"So we're supposed to just take your word for it and the word of your imaginary friends?" Sojourner mocked.

Athair spoke calmly in reply to this. "The Walkers, and Aurora, are truth, not a drug, not a fantasy, not an ideal, not a concept. They are reality."

"You truly believe there is a design to this universe?" Sojourner asked skeptically.

Elsewhere, everywhere, and nowhere…

At her design table Aurora sweat dropped as she took her off her glasses and rubber her eyes. "This truly is the most thankless job in the cosmos. Everyone complains when you don't help them and no one thanks you when you do."

Back in what could laughingly be called 'reality'…

"I do," Athair said with total faith in his beliefs.

"Why didn't you give him a whack on the head?" Knuckles demanded, unhappy that Sojourner got away with his insolence and yet Knuckles was always physically abused for questioning the old coot.

Athair lovingly put a hand on Knuckles shoulder. "Because I love you more." Knuckles sweatdropped at this.

"So we've all stumbled on ah secret society here, that sure does round out tha day," Bunnie murmured, glad she finally had something to say.

"Madam," said Athair, startling them. This was the first time any of the echidnas there had purposely addressed any of them save Sally. "If you think this is rounded out, then things will be a sphere before these events reach their conclusion."

"Another prophecy?" Amy asked in exasperation.

"Nope, just common sense."

"So now that we're out of the secret passage of timelessness," Sally said, "How long do we have until Sonic and the others show up?"

Sabre rubbed his eyebrows. "About an hour, maybe two."

"We have it easy right?" Amy asked. "I mean they have to come in the long way like Sonic and Tails did last time right?"

"Possibly child-" Locke began.

"I'm not-" Amy started.

"But it is also possible Riahta is going to take the direct route and just smash his way through above us to the Master Emerald. Supposedly his pawns have enough demolition force to do it," Locke finished.

"Regardless aliens," said Sojourner, "If you have any have preparations you would like to make before facing your fellows again, I suggest you make them now."

"I was born ready," said Hershey.

That was when something clicked in Knuckles head. "Before we go anywhere, tell me this: how can any of you still be alive, let alone look so young?"

"It is a gift from the Master Emerald which it gives to its Guardian, you've just never noticed it because you're still coming into your prime," Sabre told him.

"What?" Knuckles knew he hadn't heard that right.

Sabre sighed. "No matter what happens, you will outlive everyone around you except us Knuckles, it's the curse of living centuries. You'll watch your friends die of old age, and your loving wife slowly turn to dust in your arms."

Knuckles looked sick. "Welcome to the Guardians." Sabre said sadly.

"Knuckles…" Sally whispered.

"Aw man," Bunnie moaned.

For Hershey, it didn't involve her, so she said nothing.

Amy didn't think it sounded so bad, no wrinkles for a long long time.

Knuckles sat on the cold floor despondently as Locke patted him on the back.

"I was hoping he was going to be allowed to figure that one out on his own," Athair said.

"Life doesn't work that way," Spectre injected.

As Knuckles tried to pull himself together, he was already picturing Julie as an old maid, cursing him and shooting at him with whatever futuristic guns would exist in that time for still being young. His father had told him as far back as he could remember that being Guardian would never be easy, and while Knuckles had seen that reality through out his life, he felt like this was an even deeper level of truth. Knuckles tried to think of something else to get his mind off the subject and fast. He knew that perhaps he was sticking his hand through the fence for the wild dogs to bite, but it had to be better than the possible future that was going through his head…and he really wanted to know the answer to this, anyway.

"Can I just say one thing?" Knuckles said, standing up and looking the one called Spectre in the eyes.

"Yes." Spectre saw this coming.

"You have cybernetics!" Knuckles pointed out.

"Huh?" Amy blinked. "I thought it was just a cool helmet."

"And?" Spectre asked patiently.

"And our natural enemy is the Legion!" Knuckles pointed out again.

"And?"

"And they use cybernetics!"

"And?"

"And they're the enemy!"

"And?"

"And cybernetics are the tools of the enemy, not of those who fight against them!"

Spectre sniffed. "Strange, I've managed to use them rather well for the last better half of my life."

"By using the tools of the enemy we become the enemy!" Knuckles exclaimed.

Spectre rolled his eyes. "…Child, THINGS have no will, intention, or nature of their own. Only the person using them can be good or evil. I used these cybernetics to repair my shattered neck, would it have been more righteous if I had remained paralyzed for the rest of my days? If you wish to tear them out right now then go right ahead." Knuckles of course did no such thing, but from the look on some of the other Guardian's faces, Knuckles realized that cutting out Spectre's cybernetics was precisely what they wanted to do.

The frightening Guardian brought his attention surprisingly on Sally. "Before we have another gratuitous plot point, here's something your dad left with us for safe keeping." Spectre took an inelegant but functional loaded scabbard out of his dark cloak with the hilt end towards Sally.

The hybrid looked it over. She had seen this weapon in books but had never once beheld it in person. She let out a small gasp. "The Sword of Acorn? Wait… King Acorn knew about you?"

Spectre nodded. "He and Locke were friends back in the day. Your father didn't think there was a place on the face of Mobius safe enough for this sword after Mogul was beaten and lost his stolen property. So Max asked Locke nicely to keep an eye on it for him, since we're not exactly on Mobius, are we?"

"Dad always told me this thing could cut through steel like it was tin…" Sally said admiringly. The hilt looked to be made of some strange hybrid of sliver and gold, but Sally knew this similarity had to be just cosmetic. Gold was far too soft a metal to ever actually be used as a weapon.

Spectre nodded. "That and much, much more. This sword was supposedly forged out of the same 'source' that spawned Chaos' emeralds. It never dulls, and has yet to chip. But that's just the tip of the iceberg."

Sally reached out to touch it. The Sword was so shiny she could see herself in the pommel of the grip. Her heart pounded in her ears. "…Thank you, thank you so much… Don't worry, I know what a weapon is for."

Spectre took a step back. Sally made a sound of annoyance. "Princess, before you even think about unsheathing this thing, you have to know, this thing DOES has an awareness all its own. It'll try to weave its spirit and your soul into one self, and you, the person called Princess Sally Alicia Acorn, will cease to exist."

Sally blinked a couple of times, coming back down to Mobius and she raised an eyebrow. "…It's going to scream in my head 'offer your soul to me?'"

Spectre shook his head. "Nothing so melodramatic. But you won't make pacifist of the year in this lifetime."

So to get back Maurice, her Maurice and Miles, she had to risk losing herself in the process. Oh, why not? She was no stranger to risk. What was one more with this frightening lovely weapon? It couldn't possibly be as bad as roboticization, anyway. "I understand."

Sally reached out her hand, and Spectre gave it to her. Sally gripped the hilt, and felt a pleasurable tingle go up her arm as her fingers made contact with the sword's surprisingly warm material. She breathed in brief shallow breaths, gathering her strength and mentally preparing herself for whatever was coming next. Then, in one swift motion, she drew the weapon from its prison.

She felt a wave of unimaginable power wash over her body, like paws smoothly going over her fur. Her body shivered. From the deepest, innermost part of her, a single word permeated her entire being: WHOLE. Was this…could this be how Sonic and Knuckles felt whenever they tapped into the power of Chaos? So strong, so complete, as if not even death would be enough to destroy her as long as her spirit stayed strong and whole?

And yet even as she dove into this whole,sense of transcendent and utter, completion, there was something missing that stopped her short from joining with it fully, for she was not whole, someone wasn't with her here, two someone's in fact. She could not be complete, even here, without them. Aware of this, and promising herself and the sword that once she had those two missing pieces back that she would allow herself to become Whole, she pulled out of the whole, state of near-spiritual oneness, and realized everyone was staring at her.

She lowered The Sword, to her side, and smiled. "Don't worry, it's me."

"I was hoping we could have put you somewhere safe before you did that," Spectre revealed.

"Sorry…it just came naturally."

Spectre shrugged. "No surprise…this thing has partnered with many of your ancestors over the centuries, it likely feels something familiar with you."

Giving herself some room, Sally took a couple of practice swings as the others all kept their distance, each swing and jab leaving an after-image. It was so light, weighing so little in her hand. It was so fast, but did it have any strength behind it? Sure it was supposed to be the ultimate sword, but her dad had told her other fantastic things before which she wasn't sure if she could believe or not. Then again, after what she just felt, he couldn't bring herself to doubt it. Testing the sword's strength was more like the natural desire to test one's own muscles.

"Anything here you wouldn't mind a few cuts in?" Sally asked.

"Eh?" This scared Knuckles. He was already used to one weapon-crazy girl in his life, but he didn't think he could survive Sally going down that path as well…even if he didn't exactly see her on a regular basis…but he imagined Sonic would feel as anxious about Sally using him as a training dummy as Knuckles himself felt whenever Julie got it into her head to both test her boyfriend's reflexes and her own aim by using him for target practice.

"I want to see if this thing has bite." Sally felt a slight prickling go through her. Was the sword insulted? Knuckles didn't notice because he was both chuckling at the thought of Sonic running for his life from a blade-wielding Sally and cringing at the memory of his last 'target practice' with Julie, which had resulted in him getting shot in the foot. On the bright side, it _had_ encouraged him to train his evasive skills harder…

"I can actually provide that," said Spectre, spreading his arms apart as his smoke cloud billowed about him.

"Spectre," said Sabre. "The black smoke teleportation is kaput here, remember?"

The helmeted echidna grimaced in disappointment. "Oh…quite right." Spectre put his arms back down and his cloud settled. "There goes my dramatic exit…" he grumbled.

Athair bowed. "Allow me to give you lovely ladies the three-penny tour of this fine palace."

"You'll do no such thing," Hawking snapped. "You've given your meaningless message, now get out."

"Fine. Be that way." Athair shrugged calmly and walked out of the Emerald Chamber. This had to be the first time Knuckles had ever seen the old man walk out of a place rather than just teleport away.

"Hawking, we could use him in the fight!" Locke protested.

"We don't need the likes of him!" Hawking spat back.

As much as Knuckles disliked Athair, looking at the echidnas around him, he couldn't really blame his great-grandpa for how he turned out.

"I can truly give you a spot to try yourself out before the enemy arrives if you wish," Spectre offered Sally again, still miffed that he had been denied a chance to show off to the aliens.

"Are ya all nuts? In less than two hours? This ain't ah game! How can ya expect Sally-girl to learn the ropes just like that?" Bunnie asked in disbelief.

"It's all right, Bunnie. It will be enough. I know it'll be. Have a little faith," Sally reassured her friend.

"If ya say so..." Bunnie sounded worried.

Amy hopped up and down. "Do I get an invincible magic weapon too?"

"No!" Everyone in the room said at once.

Amy put her hands behind her back and innocently rubbed the tip of her sneaker into the floor. "I was just askin'."

"As for the rest of us," Locke said, making sure to look at the ladies. "All of us. I think its best we make our way to the top level to brace ourselves for our unwanted guests."

"No argument there," Hershey said.

"I'm stayin' besides Sally girl," Bunnie said.

"If you insist," Spectre relented without a fight. "Follow me."

"We do not need these aliens' help," Hawking protested.

"Agreed," said Thunderhawk.

"I concur," Sojourner finished.

"It's a waste for them to have come this far for nothing, and they know the enemy better than us," Spectre said plain as day.

"I have to agree with Spectre," said Sabre.

"So do I," Locke completed.

"Then it seems we have a tie, Hawking grumbled

"Well I say we do need them," said Knuckles, not really believing himself, but he wanted to shut this bigmouth up. The other echidna looked at him in surprise. "Well, am I Guardian or not? Doesn't my vote count too?"

Athair would have laughed his head off at Hawking if he was there.

Spectre summed things up. "The vote is in, we will accept Princess Acorn's aid, Hawking."

Hawking calmly bowed but said nothing else.

"Now thad we got that hoopla outta tha way let's get hoppin'!" Bunny declared.

~Here I come, Miles.~ Amy thought to herself.

So the Guardians and Freedom Fighter exited the Master Emerald chamber. Knuckles looked at the giant gem, but knew he was in no state after what he heard to detach himself enough spiritually to try and speak with it.

However, just before leaving, Sabre turned to face the Master Emerald. "I wonder what you think about all of this."

If the Master Emerald could speak, it would say how it was disappointed but not surprised by this return of events. It seemed liked it was constantly being coveted by power-hungry tyrants to fulfill their own greedy ends. It wondered how the world could detest such people, and yet how such individuals could always keep coming into being. The Master Emerald, however had no desire for oblivion. It knew that it was needed to check the power of the Chaos Emeralds, themselves an element that had aided in life's development on this world. It stemmed the chaos, gave it purpose.

It also knew that the echidnas depended on it. Regardless of whether this was for good or evil, the Master Emerald had no intention of forsaking that trust. The Guardians had done their hardest to protect it, and when needed to retrieve it from dangerous hands, and the Master Emerald knew when equal exchange was due.

Angel Island was as good a place as any for it to rest…although it occasionally wondered if maybe it would be better off in the uninhabited Special Zone…

So the Master Emerald sat and waited as it always had, to see if events would turn for good or evil.

…

"So this is the place," Sally said as she looked around at the circular room. It was rather like every other spot in Hidden Palace except the ceiling was little bit higher. "Doesn't look like much."

"And looks can be deceiving," Spectre pointed out.

"If all this is just fer some extra space for her to work with we coulda done et outside the front door." Bunnie doubted this place had anything to offer as well.

"And if that's all this room was good for I'd wholeheartedly agree with you," Spectre said that with a smirk much like Knuckles', or was that the other way around? "Miss, Rabbot isn't it? I suggest you stand on the edge of the room with me, this is Princess Acorn's exercise, not yours, or mine."

"It ain't gonna be dangerous…is et?" Bunnie had to ask even if Sally wasn't going to.

Spectre shrugged. "No more dangerous than any other combat practice, we are on a dangerous timetable but given your princesses' bloodline and the nature of the weapon, this should still help her get a feel for the sword."

"If ya all say so…"

"I'm right here you know," Sally said, perfectly within earshot. "And yes Bunnie, for the last time I'm perfectly fine with this."

"I know, so enough," Spectre said, finishing his rely to Bunnie before moving onto Sally. "Now then, shall we begin? Please stand in the center of the room Princess."

Sally did so, the Sword of Acorn still drawn in her hand like it had been since she had taken it out of its scabbard back in the Emerald Chamber. Bunnie reluctantly stood by Sabre's side.

"One last thing," Spectre said sternly. "Remember that this is no game, you can get hurt here if you let your guard down or if you don't take this seriously, these things will be trying their best to bring you harm, I can stop them at any time but that won't magically fix your broken bones. That's Sabre's job."

Bunnie looked totally freaked by this but Sally's face remained calm. "What thangs?!"

"These." Spectre clapped his hands. Several crystal masses grew out of the floors, emerald green in color, shaping and morphing as they took on a specific form. They stayed emerald-colored and were still crystal…their shape however…

Bunnie gasped. "That's not funny!" she snarled. Surrounding Sally were perfectly shaped fully robotic versions of Bunnie.

"What do you see?" Spectre asked.

"What kinda dumb question is that!"

"Answer."

"Ah see fully robotized lookalikes of me, what else?!"

"Princess?" Spectre asked calmly.

"I see Robotnik, all of them," Sally said, just as calmly as Spectre.

The spooky echidna nodded. "These things take on the form of the worst enemy the person seeing them can imagine; they're in fact walking mirrors of one's own fears and rages."

"What do you see?" Bunnie had to ask.

Spectre saw the single most beautiful woman he had known his entire life, even in crystal, even just a soulless statue, he felt his heart ache looking at her. He resisted the urge to touch his cybernetic skullcap. This woman. The only one who he had never been able to harm in battle.

Spectre closed his eyes and whispered. "I see nothing."

"You fear nothin'?"

"With my eyes closed, I see nothing." Liar. With the eyes closed, one saw everything.

"It'll be perfect!" She told him. "The best way to gain information about the Legion is from the inside! I'll let myself be recruited, and I can give information back to you!"

"Dearest it's too dangerous!" Spectre protested, his dreads going cleanly over his back, his crest symbol clear for all to see.

"You take risks every day, if I can't take those risks too, then I can't truly say to myself I love you."

"What about Thunderhawk?"

"I promise not to die if you promise not to die either."

"I can't talk you out of this can I?"

"No."

"Figured."

And so it happened. Spectre while Guardian, had always been careful to keep his personal life secret to everyone, even the other Guardians, who after much resistance and threats of leaving all together had agreed to his terms of keeping his family off their radar.

So she joined the ranks of the Legion, and she truly did give Spectre a vast well of information that saved the lives of many innocent people, and often ended the lives of those who sought change through death anyway.

Then he got information from her saying the Legion Master would be alone, with only a handful of guards to meet with the Terrans to discuss terms for a secret alliance in one of the city's low income housing district.

He got there, but he didn't find the Legion Master, and he found more than few guards.

A shot to the head from behind, he so should have seen it coming. But he hadn't, he had been too focused on the enemies in front of him to notice one lone sniper from behind getting off one shot.

When he woke up, he was in an operating theater. He could tell in an instant he was captured by the enemy. But when he heard Her voice, he didn't know weather to be relieved or even more alarmed. He tried to move, but found he couldn't. He couldn't even –feel- his body from below the neck!!

"Be patient." She had said. "I'm almost done." Almost done with what?!

A couple moments later however he found he could feel! And he could move! But what was his feeling of cold steel on the back of his neck? He touched it. And felt his blood chill, a cybernetic, he looked himself over but thankfully found that was the only one.

He looked at his wife. She now had a sideways crescent moon cybernetic around her left eye. And she saw a couple of her dreadlocks had been replaced with metal ones as well.

She didn't look him in the eye right away. "The Legion Master talked about how if he could just talk with the Guardian, that maybe they could end this…I thought he meant peacefully, I was wrong."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"Because…I've made friends here…I didn't try to but I did…I guess you were right, I wasn't cut out to be spy. I'm a doctor Spectre, what inspired me to do this wasn't just my love for you. I also got tired of see those dead from the Legion's attacks. But here, on the other side, I got to see those who died horribly too. I couldn't take it. And I've learned about some of the medical equipment they have, it's not just cybernetics! The taboo on technology our people have is stupid! It can't go on like this Spectre it just can't!"

"Farla."

"When they brought you here, I told them you were dead on arrival. The Legion made a public broad cast about you being killed like an unevolved dog in battle. As far as Angel Island is concerned, you are dead. Let's take Thunderhawk and leave Angel! Let's leave this all behind us! There's nothing holding you here now!"

"…No, there is. Alive or dead, duty remains, I promised that as long as I was able, I'd keep the Dark Legion from taking the lives of others in the pursuit of their goals. I'm sorry my love, I can't."

"Then tell my son, her mother loves him." She stood up, Spectre got ready for a fight, instead she shot several pieces of equipment in the room, starting a fire, one that spread very, very quickly. "And I love you too." With that she ran, and Spectre never saw her again. Of course he chased after her, but she must have planned for this, for that was when the fire alarm went off, and the place began to swarm with the Legion. Considering he had just for all intents and purposes lost his loving wife forever, can you blame his expression for being something out of a nightmare? Plus the flames and smoke to his back added greatly to the dramatic tension.

"It's the Guardian!"

"Impossible he's dead!"

"It's a ghost!"

"Run!!"

"It's every man for himself!"

Spectre saw a Legionnaire on the ground who had tripped with his head facing the wrong way, he took the dead man's cloak, Spectre didn't want to act like he was a female or anything, but if he was going to be a ghost he might as well look the part.

Spectre tapped into the chaos force, feeling it go through him, and visualized an invisible blade on his fingers, infinitely sharp, and flung it, the retreating Legionnaire's head came flying off. He had never used his power in such a pure violent manner than he did that night, and this forever burned into the Dark Legion's memory, Spectre, the terrible spirit of death.

If his wife was alive, he knew what would happen if the Legion learned what they were facing was no ghost.

Maybe it was better for the echidna people at large, that he remained just a spirit.

So for decades, Angel was said to have a fearsome undead spirit for its Guardian. A chilling creature born out of the Legion's own sins that blamed them for its un-life and sought to bring forth an age of fear and terror to those who had strayed from the true echidna way.

Spectre couldn't say he didn't enjoy it. The look of fright on his opponents when he appeared out of thin air, plus it really cut down on the number of lasers he had to dodge when most just ran off screaming rather than trying to take him down and make a name for themselves as many other Guardians had had to deal with when facing the Dark Legion.

Spectre even figured out how to create a cloud of black smoke at his feet to follow him wherever he went to further help the illusion that he was a walking shade.

His fellow Guardians including his father said he went too far, but they couldn't argue with the results, and his son Thunderhawk actually figured out on his own that his father wasn't really dead (Spectre still remembered the blow he got when Thunderhawk chose to test Thunderhawk's theory).

He had been able to pass off his cybernetics for the most part as a fancy helmet. But there had been those who had been sharp enough, to began to think this Guardian ghost was some Legionnaire in disguise, so he had vanished from the shadows, and had given the mantle to his child. But he never forgot that flawless body, that angelic face, that beautiful voice, and her name, he would never forget.

Maybe that was why he advocated Julie's relationship with Knuckles, maybe through them, he and his wife could be reunited in spirit.

Shaking off the ghosts of his past, he clapped his hands together. "Attack!" At that signal, the jade Robotniks attacked Sally. At first she seemed to almost panic, but then a calm took over her, she sidestepped the first one's punch, then sliced clean through its arm, then used the sword as a javelin and leaped over the mass of enemies and assumed a fighting stance, endlessly sidestepping, not staying in one place for too long. She leaped up to try and cleave one of the Robotnik's in two and instead got a fist in the gut before she could complete her attack.

"Remember, even with the sword you're not invincible, nor are you perfect," Spectre said, trying very hard not to look at the emerald automatons. Sally rolled before one of the emerald Robotniks tried to crush her by belly-flopping. She beheaded it before it got her, and was rammed from behind by another one sending her skidding across the floor. Through all this, she didn't once let go of the sword. "Do NOT be afraid of NOT using the sword, remember there is a time and place for everything and there is no 'win all, beat all' weapon or strategy," Spectre called to her.

Sally put her back against a wall, while she couldn't retreat, her enemy was attacking melee-style, and their mass kept them from attacking her more than a couple at a time.

"Rabbot, that's an odd name, forgive me for saying so, but did you have it by chance, or did you change it after you were partially converted by Robotnik's machines?" Spectre asked out of pure curiosity, trying to keep his mind off what could have been.

"Ya know..." Bunnie looked at her robotic hand palm up. "It's been so long, Ah've forgotten whether it's mah real surname or not."

"Does it scare you?" he asked gently.

"Sometimes, but other times Ah think that maybe this really is just mah fate."

Spectre looked thoughtful. "Destiny is what you make it, fate is what's been made."

Bunnie raised an eyebrow. "Do all ya guys have degrees in proto-philosophy?"

Spectre shrugged. "It helps pass the years. Destiny is what's in your control, you can take the path or not take the path, that's where free will comes in. Fate is when the sun is going to rise whether you like it or not, you've been born whether you like it or not, and one day you're going to die whether you like it or not."

Bunnie sighed. "It seems ah'll die this way whether ah like et er not."

Spectre nodded in agreement. "And I'll have a cybernetic spine when I die whether I like it or not."

"Given how you guys live, can't ya just wait till someone figures out how ta clone ya a new one?"

Spectre smirked ruefully. "It still won't be the original. I guess that's where you have me beat, those arms and legs, they may come tin-plated with a 'remove here' latch now, but at least they're still your real ones."

Bunnie smirked. "Heh. Ah always knew that, but ah never really though about et."

Spectre nodded. "When you get to be my age, you end up having a lot of time for thinking."

"Hiyah!" Sally sliced an emerald Robotnik in half and used the remains to shield her from the attacks from the Robotniks coming at her from the sides as she slipped through the middle.

-Now where did I put Sabre's med-kit last?- Spectre thought, already planning ahead.

…

The ceiling had stood for so long, that it was hard for Thunderhawk to believe that it would be gone soon, smashed wide open. But the Hidden Palace prevented teleportation of any kind; the enemy had to get here the old fashioned way. Sadly this meant the defenders would have to do the same if they tried to go out and meet them there.

"What do you think we're going to have for dinner?" Amy asked idly.

"What?" Hershey couldn't believe this.

"Come on," Amy went on, "We're not robots, or some characters in a Role Playing Game that never need to eat or sleep except to recover magic and health points...well, aside from the Grandia and Tales series, I suppose…"

"Where would someone like you even learn about those kinds of games?" Hershey asked doubtfully.

Amy smiled. "I sat in with some of Sally's recruits for one game, I was a Barbarian-class Elf named Emi. Wasn't my thing though."

Hershey raised an eyebrow. "I imagine not, but back on track, how can you even think of eating at a time like this?"

"I'm just wondering, it's not like we're going to make it back to Knothole in time for dinner, win or lose, now that the Special got totaled. And I'm hungry," she complained.

"I'd say focus on the fight now and focus on your stomach later child," Sojourner said, concealing the fact that he too was hungry because he didn't want to lose face in front of the outsiders.

"You know that got old after the second time!" Amy snapped. "I'm not a little girl who wished to be all grown up and skipped years of her life! I've fought and lost just like you!"

"Heh, I guess that does make us different," Hershey said.

"And why is that?"

"When I became a solider, I didn't have anything to lose."

"Consider being called a child a good thing girly," Thunderhawk said, startling Amy. "Because the world of adults is a cruel place, you can grow older but I hope there always remains a part of you that doesn't grow up. Otherwise things are just too cold."

"That makes no sense," Amy protested.

He snickered cruelly. "Give yourself a decade or two and you'll figure it out."

"And if you're not lucky, before the day is over," Hershey added, cocking her weapon.

"They're close," Hawking said. "I can feel it."

"So we're just going to let them smash through the ceiling and greet them?" Knuckles asked.

"Smash? Who said smash?" This had to be the first time any of the Guardians had seen Hawking grin, showing the echidna shark like teeth.

Sally leaped up, the emerald Robotnik's fist hitting the wall where she had just been. Sally ran along the top of the limb, leaped over his head, and then cleaved the emerald Robotnik from behind from top to bottom. Sally breathed in hard. She was sweating. That was the last of them. The sword didn't have so much as a mark on it.

Spectre clapped, pleased with her performance. "Well done for a first go. I'd have you go through that a dozen or so more times if I could but like I said before, we don't have the time, and you'd be dead on the battlefield if I put you through that many." He pulled a white box out of his black cloak. How much room did he have in there? He and Amy must go to the same pocket tailor. He opened the container to reveal the familiar 'bruise be gone' patches Sally had seen at the hospital.

"Just remember not to go sunbathing for twelve hours after using it," Spectre said politely. "You'll get skin cancer."

Bunnie just stood and looked at her friend in amazement, she had never seen Sally fight like that before. Her friend had only the most basic of fencing skills and yet Sally had, in spite of several hard knocks, come through like a master.

Sally felt the calm, while she knew she wasn't ready, she knew she could be prepared, and she was prepared. She gripped the sword tighter. _They_ were prepared just a bit more.

-Time of Arrival-

"Er, Master," Lightspeed said.

The winkled bare echidna glared at him dangerously, he was getting ready to splice apart Julie's Id.

"How dare you interrupt me! You know I'm to be left alone with myself when my door is closed!"

"We've arrived above Hidden Palace," Lightspeed said meekly.

Riahta blinked in confusion. "Eh? Oh. Oh! Yes, yes! Very good! We shall begin to extract the Master Emerald at once!" He looked down at the destroyed Julie-Su, a drop of drool hanging off her chin. Even Riahta was able to admit to himself he had spent too long playing with her, and then playing with himself, for her own good. Oh well. He was sure he could find a use for her afterwards. Maybe he could show her to his Su-Julie as a preview of what he was going to do to her; that would scare her into voiding herself for sure!

…

Knuckles had been sure to completely restore the terrain that Robotnik pushed aside when making his escape with the Master Emerald ages ago, so now Riahta would have to make his own hole. However, Riahta surprisingly had come prepared for just such an occasion. He began to chant his words of command as his dark threads began to move and snake around the Vengeance, readying muscles, preparing tendons, making the ship ready to take on the form that was the true reason for its existence. After all, his Knights and himself had little real need for a ship anyway.

And so the Vengeance braced itself for its transformation, its metamorphosis that would serve the cause.

The ground below the Vengeance split open cleanly without so much as a tremor, revealing Hidden Palace in all its beauty to the outside world, not that Riahta could have cared less at what it looked like. He just cared about obtaining the prize: Except he hadn't done anything yet!

Had the entire surface just opened up by itself? Nonsense! His Masters must have somehow done it, or maybe the island itself had surrendered and cowered before him. Whatever! Who cared! It was his, all his!

Riahta hissed his words, like a man who had tried to swat a fly and had repeatedly failed. "Now, go my Knights … get me the Master Emerald, destroy anything and kill anyone that gets in your way! Leave a swath of blood in your wake!!!"

"Yes Master!" All eleven minimally repaired Order Knights echoed as they came out of the dark ship with the ferociousness of hornets defending the hive. No wait, that was a better description of the defenders that rushed up to greet them before the Knights even reached the ground.

There was no drama here, no time for reflections or final resolutions, these echidnas had made all those long ago. So they would just perform their duty to the Master Emerald and Angel Island.

Hawking's plan was a daring one, some just called it crazy, others were surprised that he could do more than just talk down to people. But chaining their chaos abilities together to create what amounted to a 'come inside buddy' flashing neon sign had done its job. They got the enemy to come to them on the Guardian's terms, opposed to the other way around.

…

Knuckles was openmouthed at what he sensed. "Such power..." He wasn't talking about the Order Knights. It was one thing to use one's own power. But to see these veterans use the same power combined together, to so seamlessly and perfectly move the solid rock and earth above them without so much as causing a grain of sand to fall was something else altogether. Even people like Hershey had to be impressed. Amy wondered if she had hit her head.

Sally likewise. "They're amazing."

…

And for the third time that day, Riahta's own ignorance of the difference between this world and his own played against him. With his Echidnaopolis being this world's equivalent to Robotropolis in terms of size and fortifications, he had hesitated to attack, not having had time to formulate an attack strategy in all his preparation in coming to this world. It was because of this assumption that Riahta let the Special pass them by when he had submerged the Vengeance. He wanted to see how the Special would get past the island's defenses. He had no idea Knuckles was on board or understood why he would be on the transport of an inferior species. When the Special entered without so much as a shot, that was finally when Riahta dove into Lightspeed's memories to learn that Echidnas and the rest of Mobius, while not on wonderful terms with each other, did not have a state of open hostility. Pulling out of Lightspeed's memories at once, Riahta began to formulate a way to exploit this. That was when the Legion so much as handed him a way in!

The battle that followed was no battle at all; it had been a slaughter, it had only occurred to the Legion to call for help or to retreat only as the last of them was staring death in the face, and by then it was far too late.

However, even with the unexpected complication of being hit and being made to land the Vengeance, everything was going according to plan.

Until Riahta learned the Master Emerald was not kept in the center of the city.

And now, for the most stunning blow, he faced Guardians who on his own world had been assassinated or slain in the bloody power struggle that renewed itself with each generation within Riahta's family. Of course, unlike the rest of his bloodline he wanted _more_ than being merely the Guardian, he wanted more power, and the Dark Walkers had offered it to him.

In the Echidnaopolis battle, the stress of having to control twelve individual bodies at once against so many opponents of different abilities combined with directing them against their true nature had pushed Riahta to his limits and caused him in many important moments to falter. He actually felt more relaxed with this fight, since there were far fewer enemies here, and most of them had the same list of fighting abilities, they were from the same line of Guardians after all.

Ultimately, Riahta was no military strategist, he was a master of playing people like pawns, not directing pawns on the field of battle. Riahta had known from the start the Master Emerald would have defenders; he was not that much of a fool. But what shape and form those defenders would take here in this strange and bizarre world of opposites had repeatedly baffled him.

The Dark Legion, the Echidna Security Team, and now the Brotherhood of Guardians, none of whom existed in Riahta's world. While the Guardianhood did indeed exist, it was akin to the Sith of Terran storytelling, one master, one successor, the heir almost always killing off the master to assume power at one point. It was simply the way things were done and all Guardians accepted it as such. But not Riahta, he had wanted more, and didn't want to lose it all simply because 'it was his time.'

Time and again he had struggled, and time and again his efforts had slapped him back in the face. But not here, not now, he would capture the Master Emerald, and he would be given eternal life and power as his masters had promised, and he would make all those who dared mock him suffer so sweetly, oh so sweetly.

So fueled by obsession, greed, wrath, and perhaps even that die-hard stubbornness that every last member of Knuckles' line was known for, Riahta threw his pawns blindly against an enemy of unknown power and abilities, while Riahta sat back safe and sound inside the Vengeance, not taking part of one second of battle. This way he could get to work on the slightly less fun part of working on Julie-Su.

…

Seven Guardians and four Freedom Fighters against eleven Order Knights, mathematically the odds were one on one. But equal numbers didn't always equal a chance of victory.

"Amy and I will handle Miles and Sonic," Sally said, Amy didn't disagree.

"I'll keep the noob who thinks he's a pro in his place," Hershey said, talking about Shine.

"I'll take apart that armadillo girl who took my Julie!" Knuckles promised.

"Knuckles, she's just as innocent as-" Knuckles looked dangerously at her. Sally decided it wasn't worth it to fight with him over this. "Never mind."

"First come, first serve with me," Bunnie said.

"Make sure not even one of them makes it inside the Palace!" Hawking ordered, sounding suddenly very much like Remington rather than just the hat. "Intercept the first one you make contact with and stick to them like glue! Do not hold back, for they won't either!"

Locke tossed off his karate gi and Knuckles now saw how much he and his dad really did look alike, if Locke shaved his beard, and if Knuckles put on a few more muscles, they could almost pass for twins!

"What soup can wants to be opened first?" Locke taunted. Okay, now the similarities were just getting scary.

The Knights came down, the Guardians came up, and they collided with the force of an atom smasher. The two opposing forces scattered from the impact crash-landing in a circle around the opening to Hidden Palace in pairs.

Sally had to admit, the Guardians chain-casting their chaos abilities again to create a super powerful updraft that allowed them to climb up while holding onto the women was a clever move. Not that she had time to dwell on it as she and Lightspeed landed on the green tuft, both taking measures to keep from skidding, Lightspeed using his claws and Sally her sword.

Lightspeed rolled into a running position and sped forward with his claws extended to impale Sally through the eyes. Sally brought her sword up and blocked the attack with one motion.

Lightspeed said. "Nice new toy Sal!"

"Stop this Sonic!" The two actually struggled, pushing their weapons back and forth between them, Lightspeed brought his other claws to bear but Sally caught them on her blade as well. Sally gripped her weapon with both hands to keep from losing her grip.

"You sound like a broken record!" Lightspeed complained.

"You say that about anything I criticize you on!"

"And you know how annoying that got?!"

"Oh please, you drive me just as crazy with every bravado risk you take!" she snapped back at him.

"Stop talking and just fight!"

"Not until you wake up!"

"I'm wide awake!"

"That's what every dreamer says!" Sally intentionally buckled her legs, letting Lightspeed's claws fly over her, and ducked forward, taking a cut at Lightspeed's side.

…

Tempest's rigid, sporadic attacks were all blocked by Amy's combat mallet, to which she made no attempt to counterattack.

"Miles, there's no point to any of this! Let's just forget all this and go home! There's no reason for us to fight each other! Come on! You love beating me at chess! I promise we'll play till we both fall asleep on the board if we leave right now!"

Play Chess? That sounded like fun. But he had to do this now. Didn't he? He had to help Sonic right? Right. He had to stop Sally and Sonic from fighting. And if Sally's arm was sliced off, she couldn't fight Sonic, then Sonic wouldn't fight her. But this girl was in the way. He knew he couldn't hurt her. Just like he couldn't hurt Sally.

Wait. Then wasn't it wrong to slice off her sword arm? Because that would very much be hurting her. His processor brain slowed down in confusion as it tried to calculate this.

Amy continued to back up and retreat from Tempest, drawing him further and further away the Hidden Palace opening as an unintentional side effect. It would take the Guardian's combined effort to close it again, so they didn't want anyone near it in case they fell inside.

"Miles, I know you'd never kill me, let alone hurt me!" That name again. Her voice. Her face. It was very important. But he couldn't figure out why. If he killed her, then that would settle things. But then he wouldn't know what the very important thing was! "So please just stop!"

But there didn't seem to be a Miles, and yet not one of Tempest's infinitely sharp blades so much as snipped one quill on this strange important girl's head.

…

There were no words here; Hershey didn't waste them, if a couple of bleeding hearts like the other ladies couldn't snap this sorry lot back to reality, Hershey knew her chances were actually below zero.

The ugly bright yellow Shine brought down his mighty sword on the smaller black cat. The over compensation weapon took far too long to swing in melee. Heh, Hershey remembered how Stu was supposed to be shorter than her. She should remind him of that. His living scarf shot out and wrapped around her, its claws digging into her side, drawing blood. Shine began some prepared speech about the glorious victory of the Knights that Hershey truly didn't pay attention to and instead repeatedly stabbed the organic weapon with a replacement combat knife she had gotten off a fallen EST, causing it to grunt in pain, releasing her.

"Idiot," she spat. "If you're going to kill someone, just do it rather than playing your pipe organ!"

Shine's disconnected arms spun around madly, the claws at their end tearing the grass and soil around him into dust and obscuring everything from sight as he attempted to shred Hershey to pieces. The giant knight stopped his attack to see Hershey's torn apart corpse. "There is nothing left! My mighty blows vaporized her!" He monologued.

"No, you stupid noob." Her ghost now spoke to him? "You just missed."

Shine looked down to see she had survived by being in the eye of the storm, right underneath his legs. Hershey put a grenade into a joint of his oversized body and ran, dropped, and rolled. Shine grabbed the grenade just in time to have his claws blasted off, earning a roar of pain from Shine and a smirk of triumph from Hershey.

…

"Where's Julie!" Knuckles demanded, his flaming spiked fists matching the half drills of the armadillo woman's gauntlets move for move, cutting up the gloves Knuckles was wearing and revealing his spikes. "What have you done with her?! Let her go and I'll only tear your shell off rather than your spinal cord!"

Terra of course responded as programmed. "My life is meaningless in the face of the goal. Just as yours is meaningless in face of the goal. Her life shall be added to the alter of the goal!"

Maybe he could learn something useful before he smashed her into bits. "And what the freaking hell is your goal?"

She parroted what Riahta told her when she thought to ask. "I do not need to know that."

Knuckles dodged to the side rather than meet one of the half drills and got a solid shot in at her face, breaking her muzzle cage, revealing the bloody but very much alive mouth underneath.

She did her best to curl into an armored ball as Armadillos had been doing eons before anything else, but with her long metal tail and her drill hands, it took longer, and didn't seem to work quite right. She still tried to crush Knuckles as she closed in around him, but instead Knuckles managed to hold her open, and tossed her like a beach ball several yards away. She bounced when she landed, and while it cut up her own body doing so, she rolled and charged, Knuckles caught her again but couldn't stop her momentum. The friction left two long lines the width of his shoes in their wake as she pushed him back, but Knuckles did not let go. He would never let go until he learned Julie's fate.

…

"What's wrong sugar bear, ya all got nothin' ta say ta a lovely lady like me?" Bunnie asked, her opponent had been totally mute the entire fight, and these Knights had so far seemed like a very talkative bunch.

Monkshood just opened his bear trap mouth slowly and made unintelligent noises, his entire body seemed to shake.

That was when the truth hit Bunnie full force. Her face went blank and her eyes wide. "Ya can't talk, that mouth of yers couldn't speak even if ya wanted et to. Why? There's no way ya coulda agreed ta somethin' like dis!" Of course, Monkshood could give no answer. But he did take advantage of Bunnie's drop in defense for that precious moment. His right claw dug into her gut. Bunnie gasped not only in pain but in betrayal, her pity and compassion had just been thrown back in her face. She had only thing to say to that.

"YOU!" Her robotic fist smashed Monkshood's hand to pieces, leaving the claws still inside her. Monkshood brought his jaws down to bite off Bunnie's machine arm, instead he dented his own teeth. Bunnie never did know what metal the nanites had turned her body into, not that it mattered right now. Bunnie pulled her arm out, and punched the monster in his oversized jaw, leaving an even larger dent. Her machine legs didn't suffer from her flesh and blood half's disabling and she performed a high jump as only a rabbit can and spin-kicked one of the joints in the bear trap jaw loose. Bunnie glanced down and knew her top was now ruined beyond all hope, those blood stains would never come out. The claws were actually helping keeping most of the blood in, and thank heaven they had missed her vitals. She just hoped she could take this beast down before she passed out…or any of her male allies (especially that freaky Sojourner) saw something she didn't want exposed and either got too distracted to fight or started wolf-whistling at her, which she always found annoying.

…

"Who the Chaos are you guys anyway?!" Hiroshima demanded, sputtering with his poor replacement beak.

"The Brotherhood of Guardians! The family line who protects the Master Emerald!" Hawking said proudly.

Hiroshima looked skeptical. "Never heard of you!"

"And no one is going to hear of you!" Hawking told him, ready to wipe the invader clean from existence.

"I'm gonna blow you to atoms! Tiny atoms!" Hiroshima tore at his body, throwing the explosive feathers at the Guardian who proved much faster than he looked as he avoided the bombs.

Hawking glowered at him. "You know I have a very low, actually no tolerance or respect whatsoever for bombs and those who use bombs."

"Ask me if I care!"

"No I don't think I will. When I was standing Guardian, Angel Island was almost destroyed by a nuclear missile, three of them, at once, as the final part of a conflict that no longer matters. I had to use tabooed technology to keep my home from being reduced to a smoking graveyard. Technology I've long since hidden away in the Grand Conservatory."

Hiroshima wasn't impressed. "And is there a point to this story or are you just trying to bore me to death?"

"Just one." Hawking made several hand gestures, which Hiroshima didn't get so he just pulled another feather from his body and threw it at the enemy. Hawking timed it perfectly. The pyramid of earth came into shape at the exact instant it needed to, forming around the duck as it did so. The blast occurred inside, blowing the pyramid to pieces of course, but the main force of the blast happened inside.

Hiroshima barely managed to stand, wavering slightly, looking pretty much exactly like he had at the end of the Echidnaopolis battle. "There are some things in this world that just shouldn't exist!"

"Man," Hiroshima coughed as he fell over backwards. "Why does this keep happening to me?"

…

"Yo lady," said the purple echidna to the purple porcupine. "You're just my color, wanna forget this whole fighting to the death thing and go out with me? I know this great restaurant that serves the best fried unevolved ants you've ever-"

"Diediediedie!" Havoc unleashed a wave of spines at the echidna. Thunderhawk dodged, but a couple ended up going through his wild head fur, ruining his do.

"This is the story of my life;" Thunderhawk grumbled. "I can't, just can't seem to get a break. If it's not one thing it's another. I mean seriously, I leave to check out the small pockets of echidnas that don't live in the island, and I come back and everyone tells me how they could have bloody used my help while I was gone. I just can't seem to take a vacation without something lousy happening when I'm not around. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm sure everyone has problems like this, but they just seem to never end with me. Takes Knuckles for instance, the boy finds someone, but she has to be an 'interesting' girl, and I mean the 'may you live in interesting times' interesting."

"Don't you ever stop talking!" Havoc snarled, throwing living spear after living spear from the seemingly endless supply on her back and arms.

"Naw, not really, helps pass the time, and makes for a really good-SURPRISE!" Thunderhawk had been talking so endlessly and his motions had been so natural that Havoc hadn't even noticed how he was getting closer until he elbowed her right in the chest. Her eye bulged as he took hold and repeatedly kicked her in the gut, cracking her living breastplate. "If only this could be under better circumstances, if you ever get de-brainwashed, look me up, I'm not in the phone book but I'll find you. I've been seriously lonely the past one hundred years, and I don't mind the trans-species things too much. Not like my great-great-grandpa before he finally died of old age; even the Master Emerald can't keep you alive forever you know. Not that you'd know stuff like that of course, it's not really common knowledge."

"Please shut up!" Havoc cried, using her quills as melee weapons, forcing Thunderhawk to temporarily retreat.

…

Anark, unlike the other Knights was a creature of magic. But to call Anark a mage would be unfair. Riahta simply didn't have the power to cram a lifetime's worth of magical knowledge into Anark's head and transform the Knight into a true magic user. So Riahta had cheated, of course. He had inscribed the runes on Anark's body with pre-cast spells, drawing on the Knight's own life force like a battery. Of course this meant Anark's power, the more it was used, the more it cut the life of the Knight shorter and shorter until there was nothing left. But Riahta wasn't worried, Anark, just like the rest of the Knights, only had to last so long, before their use as they were was at an end, and their new use would begin.

Sojourner of course knew none of this. It had been a while since Sojourner, with the exception of the Enerjak fight, had been in a real battle, even longer than some of the more senior Guardians.

Anark's spells were incredibly simple, then again, destroying things usually were. As the spell runes flared, burning off more and more of the Knight's life, waves of force and balls of fire shot at the bearded echidna that played defensively. He knew if he could get close that the platypus's spell cache would be rendered next to useless, but how to do it was the real question.

Then the obvious answer hit him, he really had been spending way too much time sitting in his chair making sure all the spy equipment was working properly. Sojourner dug one fist into the ground, then the other, and in seconds was completely below the surface, making use of the soft soil above the solid rock that protected Hidden Palace. He felt rather like a worm on its belly as he went along the very top of the rock line to keep from being seen above ground. After all, if the enemy could see where he was moving from the hump of dirt he was making, then he was already dead.

It was rather like swimming really, and he was going to have to come up for air very, very soon. Relying on his sixth sense, he felt where his opponent was.

Anark was blasting spells right down the holes Sojourner had made, but since the spells were all preset really, they couldn't bend or seek out Sojourner, only go in a straight line.

Just as Anark got the idea to tear the ground apart to find the hiding coward (or perhaps use the Detection spell he just remembered he had), Sojourner burst out of the ground between the Knight's legs, ramming his fist up, causing the Knight to fall over. Sojourner followed up with an elbow right to the gut. He was too close, Anark couldn't aim the spells! And the giant tail that was so frightening to look at was meaningless when your opponent was right in your face! And so the fight became a rough and tumble melee style, until Anark remembered he had a 'force' spell which shoved everything around him back several feet, flinging Sojourner away and putting the echidna back at square one...for the time being, anyway.

…

Plutus, as he bounced a couple of times to land on a rock that shattered on his impact, wondered exactly where the echidna who had ran into him as he tried to enter the big hole where 'Hidden Palace' was had gone to. He was here just a split second ago.

A black cloud formed out of thin air in front of the knight, and like a zombie rising from its grave, the black-cloaked Guardian rose.

Plutus was thrown back, that was a cool trick, so frightening, so oppressive. Like a chick hearing the call of its mother Plutus sought the familiarity of his opponent.

"Are you a Guardian from the reverse universe too?" Plutus asked.

Plutus of course was dead wrong.

"No," Spectre said darkly. A giant invisible fist punched Plutus square in the face, leaving an impression on his metal features. "Not really."

"You! I'll wear your Halloween costume for a trophy!" Plutus said angrily, smoothing out his face.

"Don't speak, makes you sound stupid," Spectre said, taunting his enemy perfectly.

Spectre moved his fingers as if holding a zipper, and slashed the air horizontally.

Plutus gasped when one of his tusks fell off his face, cleanly cut in half.

"What, but, but how?! No one but Master Riahta is that powerful!"

"You need one serious reality check, sir."

Plutus leaped into the air and landed perfectly on Spectre, who went out in a puff of black smoke.

"Fabulous, you hit the ground quite flawlessly."

Plutus blinked and looked at the ground, seeing no signs of his enemy. Spectre appeared again in his mass of black fog in front of the black pig.

"What you're doing is impossible!"

"This from a biotechnical creature enslaved by an alternate reality sage?"

"I am not enslaved! I am liberated of the limited point of view I was chained to before!"

Spectre rolled his eyes. "In other words you've been stripped of your beliefs and morals. How sad."

"Shut up!" Plutus belched a giant green cloud of deadly acid. Spectre bought his hand forward as an extension of his black smoke flew out, expanding and meeting the cloud of death head-on, enveloping both in a huge gray mist.

…

Turtles are supposed to be slow and steady, Terratus however was fast and steady, bull-rushing Sabre without pause. Sabre was finding that he was quite unable to make so much as a dent in the armor the turtle was made out of. He was able to avoid each attack, but they were coming non-stop, without any pause on the turtle's part at all. There was one thing that Sabre realized as he looked at the turtle as it made its latest charge towards him, though. Those horns, they might have looked frightening, and Sabre could guess what would happen if he ended up on the business end of one, but there was something else too.

Sabre breathed in deep, looked the turtle in the eyes, took the beast by the horns, and sent him flying! The turtle spun and tumbled through the air, before finally landing horns first in the ground, upside down.

"Yes!"

Terratus tilted his body with all the force he could muster, and his horns broke through the soft earth and landed upright again. The turtle-bull charged again, the bits of earth still on the horn tips.

Sabre moaned. "Oh come on, give me one little break! Is this punishment for lusting after Lien-Da?" Had he been before the Master Emerald at that moment, it would have pulse once in the affirmative.

…

Locke cursed as another kunai flew across his face, drawing blood. He had heard the sound coming a split moment before it would have gone through his eye and into his brain. Too close. Locke knew he couldn't keep relying on his ears. One mistake and he was dead, and he had yet to make any proper counterattack, the chameleon just moved too fast!

There had to be a way to slow it down and to show where it was at the same time, otherwise he was dead.

"Face me you coward, instead of hiding!" There was the sound of several shuriken from behind. Locke ducked. 'So much for baiting the enemy out of hiding.' The chameleon moved too fast to find it by sound alone, and it was invisible, what did that leave?

Ugh. Locke was so caught up in trying to find the stupid pretend ninja that he had been playing the fight by the enemy's rules! Well this wasn't a martial arts match!

"Shift and rock!" Locke's fists burst into flames as he double hammer-fisted the ground. The ground below the elder Guardian exploded; sending flames and rock everywhere, creating a visible shockwave of air.

And the shock wave showed a reptile's outline, but that's not all, the flames and dirt left plenty of nice little tags on the fake shinobi.

"I see you." Locke charged, caught the waiting, now visible sword before it could impale him, and without letting go did a pair of crescent-kicks to the Knight's head followed by an elbow jab to the solar plexus. The ninja wasn't prepared for his enemy being able to see him right out of the blue, that wasn't according to the plan. But the plan was in the air now, so he'd just have to improvise, and he did so by stabbing Locke in the gut with a kunai, tearing his sword from the fighter's hand, and leaping onto one of the rocks risen up by Locke's ground pound, forcing Locke to chase after him to continue the fight.

…

"How did those stupid women and fake grandson of mine get here ahead of us?" Riahta wondered telepathically from his 'artwork' on Julie, noticing the battle wasn't going as swiftly and decisively as he thought. Plus he took note in particular of some unexpected visitors, he had been so stunned by the appearance of the Guardians he hadn't noticed the same girls who had been fighting alongside the EST at Echidnaopolis at first.

"Well Master, these is this secret passage that cuts hours off the travel time I saw once, they could have used that." Lightspeed replied mentally to his master still safely inside the ship.

"Why didn't you mention it before?!" Riahta demanded.

"You never asked."

"AAGGGHHH!!!" Riahta cursed, throwing a full-fledged tantrum. It was cut short as he began coughing up blood, nearly letting go of his staff as his body flayed about. "Why? Everything was going so perfectly well at first," he hissed as his coughing settled. He looked again at Julie-Su and kicked her to vent his frustration. She didn't respond in the least.

…

Havoc swore as Thunderhawk dodged another one of her spines, and actually used it to defend himself against the rest of her endless arsenal. "Agh! This is like one of those overly precise jumping levels in a video game! First we couldn't wipe out to a man a bunch of Storm Trooper wannabes, now we can't take down a museum of old farts!? What the H*ll is this!"

"Maybe the cosmos had met its quota of clichés today," Thunderhawk mused. "Maybe we should skip this and just go out for dinner. What do you say?"

"Maybe inexperience, brashness, and impudence doesn't conquer all. What a shock," Spectre taunted like a jackal, popping in and out all around the black pig.

"Maybe you'd be dominating us if you were younger, like under ten maybe!" Sojourner suggested as he rammed Anark into Havoc, breaking quills and imbedding them in Anark's brown armor.

"Or maybe, just maybe, you've all been duped up into thinking you're a lot stronger than you really are! Break!" Hawking shouted. The ground rose in front of the turtle ever so slightly, causing Terratus to trip. The turtle now skidded across the ground from his own momentum, leaving a giant rut.

"Thanks," Sabre said.

"My pleasure."

While the older Guardians were more rigid than their descendants, they had the most frightening weapon ever developed by any race, experience.

Knuckles purposefully fell on his back, and kicked Terra as she almost rolled on top of him with both legs, sending her flying past him.

Bunnie screamed, blood now on her legs, and threw the robotic bear with one arm, his living scarf hopelessly grazing her metal limb. Terra landed in a crater next to her a moment later, and Monkshood landed upside down in the ground next to Knuckles, both Knights struggling to escape their earthly prison.

Bunnie feel to her knees, her breathing shallow, it hurt to take in deep breaths.

"What a bunch of losers!" Said Lightspeed, speaking of his fellow Order Knights. "Just goes to show you it always comes down to the real protagonists and not the supporting characters to win the epic battles. Tempest and I will slaughter you all by ourselves!"

"Aren't you forgetting you still have to kill me first Sonic?" Lightspeed's armor now had more than a couple of gashes in its 'indestructible' hide. Sally's sword arm now sported a collection of claw marks.

"Ha! I've just been playing with you so I can make a giant dramatic turnaround!"

"Come off it Maurice, I've always been able to see through any cheap lie you could spin when we first met and I still can! If you've been holding back, it's not because you've been building dramatic tension. Besides, you're way too inpatient for that kind of performance."

…

Amy was the picture of the hot headed-girl; she was renowned for either thinking with her fantasies, or her weapons. The idea of her not trying to knock sense into Tails the hard way should have been completely illogical. But seeing Miles like this tugged at her heartstrings in ways she didn't think possible. Tails wasn't responsible for his actions right now, and thus Amy refused to hurt him for them.

"Miles, those gems, they don't match your colors at all, if you want to wear accessories, I can help you find something if you seriously want to go for a new look."

Tempest actually stopped for a moment and looked at his palms. They didn't go well with his orange and white armor? Why should that have to matter? Did they really clash? But he didn't care if it looked pretty; he wanted it to look cool. Huh?

…

Hershey ran for her life as Shine's arms spun around him as he chased after her. The battlefield above Hidden Palace was rolling hills of green grass, leaving no room for cover, thus making her chances of repeating her sniper trick equal to nothing. Shine was gaining fast, and she was going to be a red smear on the hillsides. However, while Shine's arms were spinning, his body remained stationary as he raced after her. Now she just prayed he was as stupid as everything pointed to him being so far. Racing up one particularly steep hill, Hershey kicked off and landed on the Knight's shoulders. She didn't have time to draw her weapon, take aim and fire, but that hadn't been her plan, as soon as she landed, she leapt off, but Shine had already committed his attack, and his inverted spinning arms ended up smashing at his own helmet, dizzying the living weapon. Hershey just hoped she didn't run out of tricks before Stu ran out of health.

…

Kunai and shuriken couldn't penetrate a wave of solid stone spikes as they moved out of the ground towards him. And a katana was hopeless against fists that could reach molten levels of heat. But all of this paled in comparison to one devastating detail that couldn't cross Shade's reprogrammed brain. Locke was a better fighter. The Guardian in his youth had built up his body and kept it that way. He had been in fight after fight, from brawls to all out battles. Even before Riahta had changed the reptile, Valdez was still decades behind Locke in terms of fighting experience. And with his only true edge gone, in invisibility, the brainwashed bio-weapon didn't stand a chance, and Locke, visualizing himself on his enemy's face, unleashed his frustrations, causing Shade to retreat reluctantly.

…

Question, what is it that a bully fears above all else? All humor and drama aside, the answer is rather simple: a bigger bully. For this reason, Spectre's next choice in assault was rather obvious.

"What's this? Hand signs for drama queens?" Plutus asked.

"You'll see right about now." Earth collected and took shape. Plutus now faced two giant versions of himself on both sides. The former pig squealed and soiled his metal insides since they had nowhere to go in his sealed-in body.

The two earth Plutus' moved haltingly and clumsily, the Knight didn't notice. They collapsed in on him at the same time, burying him beneath at least a ton of rock and dirt.

That move always did give Spectre a headache, not a 'head going to explode' headache like in the movies, just stress from having to create that complex a shape and animate it by himself. But it had still gotten its job done.

That was when Plutus emerged from the dirt and solid stone Spectre had thrown in. The Knight's head was smashed in, but he didn't look to be the slightest bit hampered. How was that possible? Spectre knew these things weren't undead, and that they weren't blobs inside that armor. So how?

A demented thought occurred to Spectre. It was so obvious that no one in a million years in their right state of mind would have seen it coming.

"HA! Get it yet Dracula? I'm invincible! I'm unbeatable! I'm immortal! Indestructible!"

"Don't you know when to stop jinxing yourself?" Spectre visualized what he suspected he could find in there, and pulled with an invisible giant hand that had the strength of a dragon.

Out of Plutus' black middle, cracks began to appear, and red blood began to seep out, until at last out came a pink spongy mass with a cord of white bone and nerve connected to it going back inside him.

Plutus looked down, not understanding right away what he was seeing.

Spectre let it click first.

It was...his brain! His brain had been moved to his stomach! Only now did Plutus understand how he had been able to survive so many attacks on his head again and again.

The invisible hand crushed it. It splattered over the Knight and onto the grass. Plutus gasped, twitched, and gave a long death rattle as his eyes rolled back in his head. The pig fell forward and hit the ground with a tremor, quite dead.

Spectre's expression stayed exactly the same, never wavering for an instant.

The black armor of Plutus' body began to melt off him, forming into a pool around him, leaving a rather thin and skinless body of a Mobian swine in its wake, the spinal cord completely mismatched with the skull. The oversized tusks and hooves, just crumbled into dust even as the dread Guardian watched.

Spectre lowered his head ever so slightly. "Rest in peace."

…

Nooo! Not again! Not again! This couldn't happen again! Not another one! Now he only had three to spare! And he had had so many ideas for the fat one too when the time came! First Ferrus, now Plutus! While the psionic backlash from being shot in the head was one thing, having your brain crushed in the open air had literally knocked Riahta clean on his rear, leaving his staff at his feet. Only a few quick words of magic and some hammering on his own heart kept him from outright dying where he had stood.

Riahta also took note that his other Knights, weren't exactly doing so well either. This was not good. This was not good at all! Maybe, just maybe, he speculated, he should have waited until his new Knight was ready for service before moving to take the prize after all. Not that he could have known this would happen of course. Of course. His decision was the right one. It wasn't his fault that one of his pawns was dead now. Not his fault in any way.

Still, it was very clear that perhaps he should recall his warriors for now, and rethink his, ahem, strategy in light of these new opponents after all. And so, like the coward he was, he retreated…again.

Once more, Hiroshima had to be teleported away from the battlefield. As a matter of fact, he teleported them all, at least he got some power back from when Plutus died.

The Vengeance began to rise into the sky, higher and higher, until it was a dot in the sky. A dark ugly dot. A dot that wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. After achieving an altitude that was on the edge of space, the dark ship just stayed there, like a prizefighter who had taken a solid uppercut to the jaw and was now backed into the corner to lick his wounds.

For a few seconds everyone stayed on guard in case the enemy was going to double back and teleport back down again to try and kill the heroes that way. But it was soon clear this retreat was for real.

"Call me!" Thunderhawk jeered, cupping his hands to his mouth.

"And don't you dare come back!" Sabre shouted.

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" Knuckles snarled.

Hershey allowed herself a moment of being flesh and blood and breathed a giant sigh of relief. "Too close."

Hawking looked rather stone faced, contradicting his tone. "No one defeats the Brotherhood!"

Locke actually smirked, flexing his hands. "Still got it."

Sojourner did not look happy, actually having taken fewer hits than Locke but taking it in far less stride. "Speak for yourself."

Amy looked at the space Tails had been in a moment before, before poof, he had just gone again. She was sick of this game: she wanted him back.

Amy spotted the creepy looking echidna just standing over…ick. Amy dry heaved. Was that, was that Porker? She had only known him in passing; she remembered how funny it was to see such a skinny pig. But still, to see a teammate like that made Amy's stomach clench.

"This your first time seeing a dead body?"

Amy was surprised when the echidna spoke to her personally. "No. But never like that."

"Hideous isn't it? And from everything your lot has said, he had no choice in it. He was an innocent, but if I did nothing, all of us would be suffering with him."

"And you can't stand that you had to be the one to do it?" she guessed.

Spectre shook his head. "Spare me Miss Rose, I have no regrets."

While everyone else reflected on their own dance with death, Sally looked around to check on the state of her friends. She very quickly took note of Bunnie on grass of a very wrong color.

"Bunnie!" She sheathed the sword without a second thought and was beside the bleeding rabbot in the space between heartbeats. Bunnie hugged her sides as her jumpsuit and fur soaked up the blood now leaking onto the grass.

"Don't worry girl, I can still feel pain, so I haven't gone totally inta shock yet…" Bunny hissed.

"Not another word!" Sally carefully picked her up least she caused more damage "She needs help now!"

Amy looked at herself, realizing that was twice now she had come out of a battle with the Knights without a mark on her. She actually felt a moment of shame at her own good fortune.

Two down, bout three or two to go.


	12. The Battle For the Kitsune

For those of you wondering, the mosaic Sally saw in the previous chapter was a preview of a later story set in this verse that Ri2 thought up by himself and planned to do before we had our emotional falling out.

Back within Hidden Palace, the hole to the surface was sealed up as if it had never been there, Sabre sat back from his handiwork and wiped the sweat from his brow. "I've patched you up as best I can, but internal organs aren't as easy to pull back together as skin and fur or as simple to lock back into place as bones. Madam, I seriously suggest you stay away from fighting for a while. And you stick to an oatmeal diet for a few weeks."

"So what are tha pretty bandages fer?" Bunnie asked.

"That's for when you do something stupid and break through the nice new skin and fur I just gave you and start bleeding all over yourself again," he told her.

"Looks like you're sitting the rest of this out Bunnie," Sally said, hovering over her best friend.

Bunnie protested, struggling to sit up. "No way girl! Ya'all be needin' me!"

Sally pushed her back down using one finger. "And you need to avoid killing yourself."

"Two out of three," Bunnie protested again the mighty power of Sally's little finger.

"They lost one, and we're one out of the fight. Draw," Sojourner said.

"We reached our objective, they didn't. We won that fight," Hawking said in confusion.

Knuckles thought out loud. "That's twice now they've retreated after one of them was killed…almost like a reflex."

Sally didn't get that. "I thought they left because they realized the Master Emerald wasn't in Echidnaopolis."

"That too, but it was right after Hershey killed Lex that they actually retreated. First time it could have been chance, this time that could have been the only deciding factor. I don't think Riahta wants to waste his work hands."

"Given how we've seen him use them, it's pretty clear he cares nothing for them."

"Granted. But think about it, if he had pressed that attack, he might have won, though he'd likely lose over half his fighters in the process."

"You're saying he has something else in mind for them?" Sally realized.

Knuckles shrugged. "Maybe. Don't ask me what. I'm in the dark here."

"Any chance of your great-grandpa showing up to shed light on the subject?"

Knuckles snorted derisively. "Only if he wants to or if he's ordered to. That old kook comes and goes as he pleases."

Sally raised an arm showing the scars she had chosen to keep. "And it's because of him that I haven't lost hope. We can't kill them Knuckles. I refuse to."

"And if it was Sonic and Tails instead of that lynx and pig who died?" Knuckles asked.

"Their names were Porker and Lex. And I know I'd be feeling much worse than I do right now, I'm not denying that. But if your great-grandpa did say there was hope for them in particular, then count me among the believers."

"Because it fits with what you want to believe?"

Sally shook her head. "Because it gives me a reason to not give up."

…

"What do you think their next move will be now that a direct assault has failed?" Locke asked his father.

"Perhaps they'll give it another go, hoping for a better outcome now that they know what they're up against," Sabre suggested after a moment's thought.

"And if they don't?"

"They just may take the long way around after all."

"So it's their move?"

Sabre shrugged helplessly. "Being reactive instead of proactive isn't always the brightest strategy. But I don't think any of our forms of teleportation can reach where the enemy ship is now. As for getting in there the old fashioned way, I think the Legion inadvertently tested that theory for us."

"We don't know what happened."

"You're right, we don't, but it think it's fairly safe to guess that if we tried to just fly up we'd be facing the enemy before we got close."

"Then you suggest we just wait for them to attack?" Locke asked unhappily.

Sabre nodded sadly. "I'm saying for now we're stuck."

…

Plutus' death had had been responded to just as little word or thought as Ferrus', though the Knights felt some distraught, this was purely due to Riahta's own trouble of what his masters would say. The Knights themselves wondered why the felt something now but didn't feel anything with Ferrus.

Back aboard the Vengeance, keeping up with Angel Island's orbit and staying directly above Hidden Palace, the Knights were suffering from the impossibility of an actual defeat.

"It wasn't a defeat! It was a tactical withdrawal." Of course, it wasn't a defeat. It was a tactical withdrawal. Now if Riahta could only convince his masters of such a thing as easily!

Riahta mentally blocked out the sound of his knees knocking from his minions. Riahta had fully intended his first attack to be the winning one. Echidnaopolis had thrown everything out of order. Riahta could actually feel the noose around his neck. If his masters decided he was simply no longer worth their trouble, then Riahta had little fear for his own life, because he knew his masters wouldn't be that merciful.

So now Riahta had to act fast. Supe up his remaining warriors as best he could and mount a final assault that would make it or break it. Plus he had to work out the flaws in his designs that had crept up during the last two battles, the original fight in Knothole with this world's Knuckles, being a simple base of mindless, brainless, overwhelming power.

The obvious flaw with Terratus was his spikes. So the dark sage now wired them to be able to disconnect from the turtle's body in an emergency, least he get stuck again.

He upgraded the melee claws on Anark's paws so the knight wouldn't be trapped in the same situation it had in the latest battle, as well as updating a few of the platypus' spells.

As for Hiroshima, he made sure each bomb was now unarmed until it was pulled and made hard contact with the enemy. And he had to give him another beak.

Terra's tail had proven far more trouble than it was worth, making her natural rollout skill useless, and was disposed of, leaving her with a bloody stump in its place.

Havok appeared to have no real flaws in her design that Riahta could see, and chalked up her inability purely to bad luck and Thunderhawk's bizarre attraction to porcupine monsters, which eerily enough was exactly the kind of woman that his world's Thunderhawk had been attracted to.

Monkshood didn't seem to have a single flaw, and he had gotten a good hit in and had disabled that stupid cyborg. So what if he couldn't speak? Riahta glared at the living weapon that used to be a bear and wiped the desire to speak totally from its brain. Riahta coughed up blood again and cleaned it away only to find he was bleeding through his nose as well. 'Dammit. I'm running out of time.'

Lightspeed seemed perfect even without his shoulder cannon, which was non-aerodynamic to begin with now that Riahta thought about it. Oops. Oh well, problem solved anyway.

Shine, well, he had failed twice to kill the stupid cat, but he had come closer than last time, so Riahta figured next time would be the charm. (Plus he didn't want to waste the power changing him more.)

As for his ninja action figure…

Riahta patted his reptile pawn on the back. "I've upgraded you, now you are truly silent when invisible, and any scent you had is no more as well." (Not that either of those had really been a factor before, but he honestly didn't know what else to do. Besides, Shade had _almost_ killed his opponent in the first fight, the only reason Espio was still alive now was because Shade had been recalled. So it was doubtful whether he needed that much of a change.)

Shade repeatedly bowed. "Thank you master. I shall not fail you. It shall be my great honor to serve you. I shall slay your enemies."

"Just be sure you do," Riahta said.

That just left Tempest, however, physically Riahta could find nothing wrong, he was a perfect killing machine. And before Riahta was to go mind-diving again, he wanted to build up his strength. While he would technically burn more power in the process, he thought of his next actions as being more therapeutic than actual work.

In his private cambers, alone with her, Riahta was ready.

There was nothing left of her mind, now he could begin to work on her body. This was going to be so perfect! He actually felt himself getting excited just by thinking about it! It would be transient. Plus he could take what he had learned from the other twelve previous Knights and put it to good use.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he began to speak in his illegible, chilling black tongue. Threads of darkness snaked out of the sage's mouth and that of his walking stick. They slithered through the air and across the ground, enveloping the echidna woman, cutting her boots and combat getup to tiny piece that were swept away by a non-existent wind. And they began to explore, to violate, to corrupt, to remold this shape into what he desired.

Her cybernetics, the secondary reason he had chosen her in the first place, began to grow and spread, mixing in with the living parts of her seamlessly. The pink living metal assimilated her skin as it climbed out of its invasion point, her hips, her thighs, her knees, her legs, her feet, and her toes. The dark threads pulled at the doll, like support rods for a mannequin bringing her into an upright position. Her skin at her midsection became a living alloy, her chest, her back, her neck, her arms, her hands, her face and hair. It enveloped her completely, almost looking like a cocoon, except this was no external layer, this was indeed her body.

Riahta moved bones ever so slightly, the organic metal, cybernetics, and living flesh mixing beautifully. This was no ugly mishmash. No half-baked thing like that rabbit. This was truly a work of art. Riahta had indeed learned well from his other creations. There would be no glaring flaws here. No failure. Her internal organs were conquered and to the victor went the spoils. By the time Riahta was done with them, it was hopeless to try and figure out where the flesh started, where the cybernetic ended, and just where the organic alloy came into play inside her. It was perhaps a good thing Julie's mind at the moment was shattered. Had she been in any state to appreciate it, she would have been in pain beyond imagining.

Riahta would have violated her body first then destroyed her mind, but he wasn't stupid enough to give his enemy superpowers before brainwashing her. Why other supervillains insisted on doing it in the reverse always escaped the dark sage. Oh he could guess why, after all, that look on their faces at seeing their body twisted beyond recognition did have a nice flavor to it, but you often paid for it when your victim turned their newfound powers on you!

So Riahta had to avoid doing things the fun way and instead went the safe way. He could imagine her mind was whole to suffer through it all anyway, and the trick worked well enough that he could still enjoy both parts of the show.

Julie's body made no sound, not even a grunt or a moan as Riahta pulled at her tailbone. Given that she was an echidna, her teeth needed minimum work.

There were so many directions he could take her now that he laid down the foundation, but he knew what he wanted. He had worked out the design in his head even as his pawns had fought and died against the Guardians. Riahta was in a world all his own. There was only him, and his block of marble, his blob of clay, all to sculpt into his masterwork.

The Knights at the ocean had been done quickly and in a flash, but not here, Riahta wanted to enjoy this. He wanted to savor every moment of this as he changed her body bit by bit. This one, who had endlessly defied his will, would now have nothing but his will.

He actually took pause to caress the warm metal flesh, feeling every detail even as they changed under his touch, oh how he wanted it, but he held himself in check. He wasn't done yet. He moved his boney hands up and down her figure, feeling over sealed openings, looking for imperfections but already knowing he would find none. He was tempted to keep those openings, but contained himself, plenty of time for that later. He tapped his fingers on her body, satisfied with the metallic 'Klink' he heard in response. And all the while Julie's expression remained as empty and blank as a clay figure's.

Riahta stepped back and started up again. Throughout the Vengeance the lights dimmed, the Knights felt very strange, listless, for they were gone from Riahta's mind. He was focused, totally focused on his masterpiece. He panted for breath, using his frail psychical strength to its fullest to keep from coughing again, he would let nothing ruin this moment. The threads of darkness were black and solid, ending in serpent heads. She was his, all his, at last.

He attached the puppet strings to her nervous system, her frontal lobes, her heart, her hormonal glands, anything and everything about her, conscious and subconscious, was his to pull at, and be done at his thought. She would make no mistakes, for he would make no mistakes.

Finally he added the growths, the additions to her figure, functional, beautiful, yet practical, they grew cleanly out of her, not even a drop of blood spilling, perfect living weapons for a living weapon. Then the black thread covered her completely, leaving her shape a black sculpture of darkness for Riahta's eyes alone. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then for a few more. There was nothing but silence and Riahta's anticipation. A full minute passed, then the black cocoon began to shift, then shatter, vaporizing into nothing. And before Riahta stood his completed beauty.

Riahta stemmed his lust brought on just by looking at his masterwork. His mouth filled with drool. He turned her around with his own thoughts, taking in every shape and detail. And every last bit of it belonged only to him.

"You are as beautiful and as terrible as the dawn, my Mourning Star!" he rasped in delight, rubbing his hands with joy.

"Mourning Star," he had her repeat, her voice just as sweet to Riahta's ears as her form was to his eyes. He took hold of his staff. Yes. She would be it. Maybe he should test her out. Yes. That would be very proper indeed. After all she belonged to him anyway, he could do what he wanted with her, and if the time came, discard her.

But before he could carry out his twisted will…

_SORCERER_! Riahta emptied himself, covering the floor and his robes in foul-smelling offal.

Riahta quickly sent the mindless automaton out of his private chambers; she was the last thing he needed on his mind right now! Riahta had a smooth tongue, it was his ultimate gift. But he knew it was useless before these beings. And he knew better than to tempt fate by trying to play that game. He had tried in Knothole, and had already suffered for it. He didn't want to think how he would suffer if he dared tried to play that game again with his masters.

Riahta was not in meditation, nor was the room totally black a moment ago, nor had the three ever-changing devil masks been in the room surrounding him all sides before. His own staff was now a serpent larger than he was. It hissed at him, and quickly wrapped itself around his bones, which were more fragile than glass. If it squeezed even slightly, Riahta's entire skeleton was likely to shatter, and he felt the muscle in the giant snake tensing to do just that.

Their voice boomed from every direction, driving Riahta deaf if they would have let him lose something as inconsequential as his hearing. They weren't going to. Not in the least. Riahta felt his panic devour every part of his mind.

The last time he remembered being this scared was when he had three bullet wounds in his body, his blood spilling over the bed sheets, and Erbas had three more left in his gun, looking around for his father to give him the remainder, and Riahta, had jumped out his own window to escape. That fear was nothing compared to what he was feeling now.

_Our patience is at the breaking point Riahta. You've lost two of your spare weapons, have had to spend resources to create a replacement, wasted time on a meaningless personal pursuit, hesitated in your attack and giving the enemy time to prepare, got the wrong location for the target, and at the true target site you allowed your weapons to be repelled by a force that should be your expertise! What good are you?_

He saw through the masks, dear fates he could see through the masks! He could see the beings hidden behind them. Riahta's blood turned to water at the sight. He would have fainted if he was not being kept in the world of the waking by his masters' will. Riahta wondered if they would tear him apart and eat him. Riahta's desperate desire to live managed to actually break through a tiny crack in the solid black stonewall of fear that surrounded his mind so he could speak.

Riahta, so fearful of his life, didn't even try for the grace of speaking telepathically with his masters. Instead, he blurted his words out loud and clear, reverting to the most submissive and subservient position and tone he could muster and manage. Groveling always had a way of keeping you alive for a while longer, he had always found.

"Masters! Please hear me out! I have been useful to you before and shall be again! I was able to charm the rest of my kind into allowing me to use the Slave Emerald with the promises of a newer, stronger emerald and the power to finally exterminate the White Legion. I was able to create the weapons and mediums needed to claim and control the Master Emerald all in the same stroke! Not only from our own reality, but through the hands of another who was not even a servant of yours! Taking control of his heart, blocking out his woman's presence, exaggerating his jealously to absurd levels, and altering his logic so not only would he deliver their best warrior, but an entire squad with which I was able to create my weapons!I covered every possible roadblock by making sure the best weapon's mate would not be there for him when he needed her the most! Neither of them would have even CONSIDERED the POSSIBILITY of doing what they did if it were not for me! It would have never even occurred to them if not for me!"

The dark walkers were almost amused at Riahta trying to dig himself out and in fact only digging his own grave deeper, as if this was the time to be entertained and not a bid for what they had worked for for countless eons!

_And yet the Master Emerald is still not ours! Your overly complex schemes and childish games have cost us! Cost US! You dare steal from us?! No one takes from us! Everything is ours! Your betrayal will grant you the reward of ultimate knowledge: there are always things worse, than those much worse than death!_

"I can still claim the Master Emerald! It will be yours before this time tomorrow! I swear it! Give me this much time and this entire world will be yours! The gate will be yours! I will build it for you even if I must do so with my own two hands! I swear it! I swear! Spare me for just a while longer, and your plans will succeed! These setbacks shall not bring about failure masters! I promise!" Riahta was close to blubbering like a child.

_Think what you say. You shall either suffer now until forever…or you will suffer a fraction of what you would have suffered to the end of time, and beyond!_

Riahta always was a gambler at heart. "I shall not fail Masters!"

_Do fail, and you shall never die._

Not even in an eye blink they were gone, the masks, the blackness, and the giant snake was just a staff again. Riahta hit the ground hard, and released a whole mouthful of blood.

There could be no more mistakes. Not any mistakes. Not even the slightest mistake or deviation from the plan now. Not anymore. He could hear the hands of the clock ticking as loud as if they were inside his inner ear! Before, Riahta was coming close to fearing death with every heartbeat as he counted them off. Now he knew that he had nothing to fear from death, ever, because its freedom, it liberty, its mercy, would never be his. "No mistakes," he whispered, forcing his body to stand up. That was when he saw it, that faintest and briefest streak of orange and white, right outside the open door to his private chamber. The one he had sent Mourning Star out of at his masters' arrival. Riahta pulled in a deep breath, and let out a shriek so loud and terrible that no one would dream it possible for his withered body to have ever made it. And that shriek penetrated every last inch of the Vengeance.

…

The second encounter with the girl had left Tempest even more confused and his programming even more conflicted. She was important to him, but he didn't know why. He should have been able to tear her apart into countless pieces, and yet he hadn't. She should have attacked him, and yet she didn't, she only defended. For it to happen once was chance, for it to happen twice showed a pattern. So what was the pattern? There had been other pink females not acting the same way. And why only with him?

As Tempest's programming continued to conflict with itself, some of the more fundamental parts of Tails' personality traits began to slip through. And every Tails in the multiverse, regardless of whether they were good or wicked, wise or foolish, had one thing that bound them all together, a burning yet innocent curiosity equally powerful in their sleep and in their waking hours.

And Tails had pretty much been asleep this entire ordeal. Everything was like a dream to him. It all made sense while he was doing it, but looking back on it he couldn't make sense of anything. And like a dream he felt his actions being pushed along towards wherever the dream wanted him to go.

But things were suddenly different now. The director of the dream had gone, and his script had been taken away. So with his programming in conflict, and Riahta's voice temporarily unable to direct the stagnant order, Tempest was wondering a number of things.

This ship was supposed to be theirs, but none of them had been through all of it, or knew where everything was, they were all just given directions to where everything was. That wasn't a good way to run a ship. So Tempest began to explore the ship. The other Knights didn't mind. They didn't seem to really notice either. Their holding pen had multiple entrances and exits, Tempest chose the one that lead to the bridge. All the interior decoration of the Vengeance itself was very interesting, but they all looked so much alike. Each hallway was just like the last. Maybe the rooms themselves would be cooler. It would be a real drag if they got a ship and its insides were built like some nonsensical first person shooter. Not that he was one to judge, he had only played one once, when Aunt Sally wasn't looking, and that had been enough for him to swear them off for life and then some (except for the Metroid series, which _could_ be considered more of an adventure game than FPS). Then she found out what he had used the precious computer in Rotor's workshop for and spanked him till the red rashes could see seen through his fur.

Maybe if the rooms were all empty he could bring some of his stuff from home and keep it here instead so he could have it with him wherever they went. Why hadn't he picked up any of his things when ... they went back to Knothole? Why had Sally and Sonic been fighting again when they got back? What had they talked about? He was supposed to be really good at remembering things, so why was he having trouble?

Looking in a lot of rooms he found stuff that looked like engines or maybe internal organs. They had their own inner glow and undulated in their entirety. They were really fun to look at. He tried to sit down but it wasn't like how it normally was, he was used to using his tails as a pillow whenever he sat down on the ground. But now they were two really sharp blades, so the comfort was gone, the floor was strong, but really rough, and there was no buffer since he didn't have fur anymore. It felt really weird.

There was something hypnotic about the beat of the different parts of the ship, but Tempest still wanted to see the bridge firsthand. Maybe Riahta would let him pilot it! True, nobody ever let him pilot the Special but he still had lots of experience with the Tornado, so it should be perfectly all right.

Weren't Riahta's quarters near the bridge? Maybe Tempest could ask him first. He always seemed to be busy, but Tails was sure he wouldn't mind if Tempest asked him about something as small as flying the ship for a little bit.

When Tempest got to Riahta's room, the fox saw that the door was open. That must have meant that Riahta was welcoming visitors right now. So of course it was all right for Tempest to come inside. But what the fox saw when he looked inside the door hushed him up before he could even ask his first question.

Riahta was floating a couple of feet off the ground; his head tilted painfully back, and his cane held between his legs. The old man also seemed to be trying to choke himself with his boney hands.

The old echidna was also crying a river and screaming his lungs out. ""Masters! Please hear me out! I have been useful to you before and shall be again! I was able to charm the rest of my kind into allowing me to use the Slave Emerald with the promises of a newer, stronger emerald and the power to finally exterminate the White Legion."

Masters? Was he talking to the Great Walkers? Why were they upset with him? Slave Emerald? White Legion? Where they from Riahta's universe?

Why would the echidnas in Riahta's universe need another emerald? Their power lasted forever, didn't it?

Great Walkers. Tempest remembered when Athair had first shown them to him. The old guy sure knew how to prove a point. However, Riahta wasn't waiting for Tempest to figure out what he was talking about, and he kept talking.

"I was able to create the weapons and mediums needed to claim and control the Master Emerald all in the same stroke! Not only from our own reality, but through the hands of another who was not even a servant of yours!" What was Riahta talking about? Weapons…Tempest had the strange feeling he knew what that meant. But medium? Mediums for what? Control the Master Emerald? Wasn't that what Mogul and Robotnik kept trying to do? That seemed to be what the bad guys always did. What did Riahta mean 'from his own reality?' 'Through the hands of one who isn't even your servant,' that made even less sense. Someone who didn't work for the Great Walkers?

Taking control of his heart, blocking out his woman's presence, exaggerating his jealously to absurd levels, and altering his logic so not only would he deliver their best warrior, but an entire squad with which I was able to create my weapons!"

Hadn't Riahta said St. John had betrayed them? Some time ago? When had he said it exactly? Best weapon? Was that Sonic? He was always the best at everything Tails knew. Entire squad? Everyone else? Deliver? Deliver how? Taking control of...his heart. But, that meant Riahta's voice was wrong. That didn't make sense. Riahta had used St. John? Did that mean what he said before was a lie? But what he said was always true. It had to be…didn't it?

"I covered every possible roadblock by making sure the best weapon's mate would not be there for him when he needed her the most! Neither of them would have even CONSIDERED the POSSIBILITY of doing what they did if it were not for me! It would have never even occurred to them if not for me!"

Weapons. Was that all they were? Mate? Best weapon? Sonic. Aunt Sally?

What was all this? System error. Run time error. Syntax error. It didn't make sense. Why didn't it make sense? It should make sense. Fatal system error. Systems crash.

"I can still claim the Master Emerald! It will be yours before this time tomorrow! I swear it! Give me this much time and this entire world will be yours! The gate will be yours! I will build it for you even if I must do so with my own two hands! I swear it! I swear! Spare me for just a while longer, and your plans will succeed! These setbacks shall not bring about failure masters! I promise!"

Tempest's programming collapsed in on itself. Tempest fell on his hands and knees. Why couldn't he feel his fur? Why weren't his tails fluffy? The way Amy said it was always cute.

Wait! Amy? Amy!

...

He knocked on the door, but didn't get a response. He considered just leaving, but he had come this far.

He slowly opened the door, it wasn't locked. He saw a pink hedgehog girl his age sitting on the room's bed.

"Hello?" He called politely. She continued to just sit there. Well, if she wanted to sit, okay. He sat down next to her, making the bed bounce a little. She kept looking at the floor.

He smiled and tried to break the ice. "Hi. My name's Tails, you're Amy right?"

Finally, she turned her head a little at him. Was there an appraising look in her eyes? He must have imagined it. He reached out and dared to put his little gloved hand on her shoulders. "It's okay if you don't want to say it, I know you're Amy."

...

"I shall not fail Masters!" Riahta coughed.

...

"Okay!" Tails called out to the night sky. "I give up! You win!" Sucking in his gut, and with as much dignity as he could muster, he marched to the Christ Mass Party that he himself had encouraged Her to go to as part rebuilding herself. Walking inside the modified war room, he saw Sally watching Sonic break dance while Bunnie was leading a coyote with two left paws in a formal dance, causing him to step on everyone's toes, including her own, but since her toes were metal she didn't feel it so it didn't count.

He spotted her sitting by herself instantly, listening to the music and strangely being a wallflower. He didn't say a word; he just sat down next to her and kissed Her. She looked right at him in surprise for all of one moment, before coming onto him in a leaping hug.

...

Riahta fell onto the floor of his room with a bang. The old wraith struggled to get up before finally hissing out, "No mistakes."

...

Amy turned herself around completely and put her face in her folded arms, her young body a painting in the morning light. "Please come back alive. Please . . . just come back alive," Amy said, not wanting to see him go, or for him to see her cry.

"I promise I will."

...

Ashes, Ashes, All fall down. Reality came roaring back to Miles.

Tempest/Tails felt dizzy. What had he just heard? What hadn't he just heard? Why was he like this? He was supposed to be celebrating with Sally and Sonic. How come Amy hadn't hugged him yet? What was he in? He wasn't 'inside' anything. This was himself. But he wasn't a machine. He was a Mobian, a Freedom Fighter. Then why was he doing all of this?

Tails/Tempest felt the fog dissolve in his brain. 'Wh-What am I? What have I been doing?' Tails thought in a panic, the world around him having degenerated into absolute madness. Sonic had murdered Geoff! No! Sonic wasn't a murderer! But Tails had been standing right there when Sonic shot him. Sonic didn't believe in the cowardice of lasers! Let alone harming a helpless enemy! None of this made any sense!

Tails felt so dirty, every inch of his body and soul had been violated! Geoff had been used! And was killed for it! Tails, Sonic, Stu, Bark, Bean, all of them! They were all being used! Dear Aurora help him! Tails had to tell someone, _anyone_!

Tails ran from the evil mad sage of the Dark Walkers.

He ran back towards the others, Sonic would know what to do, he always did! That was when Tails heard it, that horrible ear piercing screech, a sound of desperation and denial that penetrated his very soul.

It froze him in his tracks for a good five seconds before he began to run with even greater speed, but that was when he bumped right into…_her_. Tails was knocked back from the solid impact of the immovable object, and looked up at what had hit him. He gasped.

Just like the other Knights, this creature's gender was clearly defined, and its hot pink poly-alloy skin, which had blended so perfectly with her real skin and cybernetics that they looked almost identical, was its only covering. Unlike the other Knights however, what made this one frightening wasn't how un-echidna it was, or how much of an ugly perversion of it's original self it was. It was fairly easy to tell who this had been. This went beyond that. Her eyes, her stance, her tone of voice, her body language combined with the modifications to her body, gave the ultimate feeling one had encountered only a statue of her, a tailor's techno-organic dummy made in her likeness, something that was completely and totally empty.

There were two silvery blades on each arm, starting at the forearm and going well past the claw tips, ending in a slight curve downwards. Each hand ended in four wicked-looking gold talons. Each elbow held a gold barb, curving forward, and thick, twisted bony spines grew from her knuckles in a grotesque parody of the ones born by the Guardian line.

Her legs ended in three toed claws, two in front and one in back. Her feet also had a very decided arch that left the back claw in the air.

A long thick muscular pink tail swayed side to side behind her. There was no barb at the tip, just solid strength.

She was hunched over slightly, and she could still almost match a Terran in size. Her waist and hips were impressively trim, but her muscles rippled with strength, every line of her body screaming fury and power.

Her dark purple hair, each spine tipped and encased in silvery metal, topped her head and ran down her neck and back in a Mohawk-like mane which stopped just before her tail.

Silver wing masts stuck out of her wrists, just before her elbow barbs, and on her sides, a membrane the same color as her mane was stretched between them, the masts able to fold up when needed to. Like a second pair of arms, another set of wings designed like a bat's rested on her backside on either side of her mane.

Above where her eyebrows would have been was a silver horn on each side, curved cleanly back to the sides of her head.

Her neck was twice as long as it had been, and able to bend in every direction as need be. Her muzzle was now a reptilian snout, its teeth permanently bared with particularly prominent sharp and frightening canines.

Her eyes were exactly the same, if not for the lack of expression in them, which disturbingly offset how every part of her body looked as if it was intended to violently maim, crush, annihilate, and destroy all that stood before it.

Tails barely got out, "So-" before the dragon in a blur cupped his mouth between its claws, crushing his lower faceplate in the process. Tails tried desperately to fight back, using any one of the number of blades on his body or the crystal gems that dotted his form. But the creature swatted him back and forth between the walls, not noticing the cuts Tails made in her arm, breaking any concentration Tails had. Before the fox's big brain could formulate any strategy, Riahta grabbed Tails' head from behind, his skeletal hands leaving an indentation in the living metal with their surprisingly crushing grip as the mad sage gained control over him once more.

…

-Little boys are supposed to do as they're told!- Riahta thought angrily. They weren't supposed to think for themselves! They weren't supposed to have their own ideas! They were supposed to mimic everyone else around them to stay with the 'in' crowd.

Riahta had been so certain it would have been a waste of time to reprogram the freakish brat. After all, little kids just know failure brings pain, and success brings rewards! Their psychology needed no further explanation!

Well, it was about time Riahta fixed this oblivious mistake, seeing as he _knew_ how he couldn't afford even _one_ more!

Riahta felt rather relaxed after creating Mourning Star, and had plenty of motivation after the visit from his masters. He dove into Tails' mind, disgusted with the purity it contained even after all the horrors of war it had seen, the kindness it held in a world of cruelty. And it's sheer compassion for the oppressed!! Riahta almost vomited!

But he wouldn't! He wouldn't kill this one! No, no matter how smart an idea it would probably be to just murder the fox and be done with it! He'd have a better use for the effort he had put into this weapon, that and he was just too stubborn and packratish to throw something he had put so much work into away. He said his spell words in quick succession, the dark threads diving into Tails' brain, constructing the personality, copying the needed memories for it to function, and STAMPING the persona onto Tails' mind. This might not last long. It didn't need to, it just needed to last long enough for Tempest to slaughter some of the enemy, and most likely be destroyed in the process. And if the spell started to fade in any way, Tempest would be programmed to terminate itself once and for all.

Riahta let go of the Knight. It hit the ground on two solid feet and stared up at him with eyes almost as vacant as Mourning Star's. "Go! Attack!"

"Yes Master," it said in a totally robotic voice. Riahta made an opening in the side of the Vengeance and Tempest flew out on its own, straight down, to Hidden Palace, building up speed and momentum as it went before, shaking the ground for miles around, it plunged smack dab into the earth, through the bedrock, and into Hidden Palace's cavernous hiding place.

…

**The enemy. Kill the enemy. Kill the enemy. Destroy the enemy!**

_But they aren't my enemies._

**All are enemies! Kill all enemies, and then kill self!**

_No! Stop!_

**Kill!**

_Please stop!_

…

"We have an intruder!" Sabre shouted.

"Intruder?" Spectre said in surprise, knowing that meant just one.

In the Emerald Chamber, the Master Emerald shook with the relatively close presence of such a thing, something so unnatural and perverted of something so dear and familiar.

"There's only one!" Locke sensed as well.

"Ya think it's Sugah-hog?" Bunnie asked from her spot.

"No," Sally said, sounding distraught and worried but at the same time calm and collected closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again and speaking with the certitude granted her by the Sword of Acorn. "It's Miles."

Amy started to run.

"Amy!" Sally shouted. "He's not like before! It'll kill you!"

"No he won't!"

"He won't! It will!" Sally chased after her, along with anyone else who could hope to keep up with them, as Tempest charged for the main doors that lead to the hallways of fate...and its own, as well.

"Spectre, Thunderhawk, Sojourner, you stay here in case this turns out to be a distraction. Myself, Sabre, Locke and the child will deal with the intruder," Hawking ordered.

"She's already there," Knuckles pointed out.

"I was not talking about her," Hawking said, staring down at the youngest Guardian.

It clicked one point zero one seconds later. "Hey!"

"I'll stay and make sure the rabbit stays put," Hershey said. Plus Hershey knew that if it was the transformed Tails they'd be fighting, she knew she was going to be next to useless against the death machine if she wasn't allowed ti make a headshot.

'Drat!' Bunnie thought. 'Ah was sure Ah'd be able to go after 'em after they all left.'

…

Amy didn't notice or care that it took her a fraction of the time to get through the entry hall on her way out than on her way in. Her thoughts were on her other half. Sally was wrong, Sally had to be wrong; Miles would never, ever, hurt her. She froze in the entryway to Hidden Palace, staring down at the monster that was Tails.

"Kill," it said in a totally mechanical voice. Not even touching the ground it rocketed up the steps right at her. Amy yelped and brought her hammer up defensively and blocked the claws, but the monster twisted its entire body, keeping its hands stationary on her mallet as it lashed out at her with its tails. Amy leaned to the right and its blades cut cleanly through her left ear in its path. Amy yelled in pain as the severed piece fell to the palace floor.

_Amy!_

**Target still functional. Kill the enemy!**

The monster reversed its spin this time to cleave her head in two. A gold and silver-colored sword blocked the tail blades before they could connect with Amy's cranium. Sally kicked Tempest in the chest, forcing him off Amy and leaving inch deep cut marks in her hammer. Sally ignored the soreness in her leg from the impact as Tempest stopped itself mid-air before it had gone very far and repeated its charge. It was relentless and did not intend to stop until it was dead, and even then it would not quit easily.

"Miles…" Amy was mortified.

"This isn't Miles!" Sally repeated her point. "It's a straightjacket!"

Amy had no idea what that meant and really had no time to consider it as four Guardians at once attacked the monster. As hesitant as the Guardians were about damaging the palace with a battle, broken holy ground was better than none.

"Son! You take right! I'll take left!" Locke cried, his fist bursting into flames.

"Got it!" Knuckles did likewise. The two Guardians punched Tempest from its front, the two superheated attacks knocking it back again. This time instead of repeating its charge it gained some altitude, and the eyes gems on its body started to glow, firing four laser head-shots at the Guardians. Hawking created a barrier that deflected the beams in alternate directions away from his family at the last millisecond, scorching the Palace's exterior. The red beams continued to be generated however, and Tempest quickly focused them all in one spot to weaken the Guardian.

Hawking's knees buckled but a hit from behind claimed Tempest's attention before it could break through the shield, turning to look behind it. There was Amy. She had dropped her hammer, and drawn her crossbow. The exploding tips hadn't penetrated the armor, but had left its mark.

_Yes! Go Amy!_

**Destroy!**

Tempest dive-bombed at the hedgehog, but was stopped in its tracks as she fired another shot, this one right in his face. Momentarily blinded by the explosion, Tempest spun its blades in every direction and landed on the ground in a hurricane of razor edges.

**Kill. Kill the enemy. Kill them all.**

_I don't have a reason to kill them, I don't have a reason to kill anybody!_

**Hate them! Hate! They're the enemy!**

_I don't have a reason to hate any of them._

**Amy: those idiotic hugs, that shrill voice, you know she still lusts for Sonic.**

_That's what makes Amy Amy. She'll always lust for Sonic. She loves me._

**She tried to hurt you. She betrayed you.**

_She never tried to hurt me. She never betrayed me. Even when I was something she couldn't recognize, she wouldn't hurt me. She never betrayed me. I was the one who betrayed her!_

**No you didn't! She deserves to be punished!**

_I promised her I'd come back! And I will come back to her!_

**No you won't! You owe Riahta everything! He is master! Obey Master!**

_He used, deceived, and betrayed everyone. I owe him less than nothing._

**Kill the enemy!**

Tempest's sight returned just in time to see a giant blue boulder rolling towards it. Tails remembered this too well.

"Strike!" Knuckles called, snapping his fingers. Tempest's tail blades came to bear, striking the boulder with an X-slash as it got close, causing it to split apart into four pieces and fall harmlessly off the raised path.

"Seven ten split!" Sabre face faulted.

Tempest zigzagged towards the echidnas. Sally strafed into Tempest's line of sight, stabbing her sword forward before twisting it back to deflect the counterattack.

It was impossible to avoid the entirety of the blades on Tempest's body, but as the edges cut skin and drew blood Sally was able to keep them from severing tendons and bones.

"Miles!" Sally shouted. "I know you're awake in there! You don't have to let it do this, it's still your body!"

_Aunt Sally I can't! I'm trying!_

**Rend. Slaughter. Vivisect.**

"I know you can do it Miles! I believe in you!" Sally shouted.

'She knows he can kill us?' Locke thought in surprise.

_I can't win! It won't let me do anything! Stop it before it murders all of you!_

**Vivisect! Dismember! Decapitate!**

"I won't, Miles!" Sally shouted as she roundhouse kicked the thing, it just hovered above her sweep but it gave Sabre the chance to hammer-blow it from above, disorienting it, and allowing Sally to make a clean strike at it's left shoulder, cutting the sharp armor-piece clean off. "You're half of my world, and I won't lose you! Not again! Not this time!"

_Please Aunt Sally! I don't want you to die! I don't want to kill you! Please!_

**Impale! Rip! Divide!**

"Then take charge! It's the unwanted houseguest, not you! Show it whose boss! You can beat it!" Tempest stabbed its claw tips forward like jackhammers, trying to remove Sally's lungs so she would be quiet. Sally felt the knives cutting through her fur and skin, trying ever so hard to get at the sweet muscles and organs inside. Tempest had a much higher ground speed than her; the sword of Acorns was a flash of afterimages deflecting the precise death strikes, but not even her enhanced reflexes were enough to keep all the claw stabs from getting through.

_I can't! Help me! Please! Kill it! Kill it!_

**Kill them! Kill them!**

Tempest slashed down for a tear through Sally and Knuckles who was coming up behind her when something sharp and orange dug into its arm, stopping its descent. Sabre had taken the piece of armor that been cut off and threw it as hard as he could into the monster. He missed though, he had been aiming for the back of the neck.

Still, the distraction was all Sally needed to smash Tempest in the head with the flat of her sword, stunning it and knocking its sense of direction out of whack.

_Aunt Sally! Do it now! Before it can recover!_

Killdestroymurderslaughterkitsunefirenightmarebloodsaltcutdestinybleed-

"Never, Miles," Sally said. "Amy! Hammer sandwich!"

Sally flipped her sword in her hand, not cutting herself on its edge as she jabbed the hilt into Tempest's chin at the same time Amy slammed her hammer into its skull from behind, leaving cracks in the hammerhead. The blade tails left red marks across both her legs, but she pushed the pain into her hammer as it came down.

Aunt Sally…please…before it can… Barrierdivideemeraldtails…nine…twelve…two-

"No, Miles," Sally said kindly as she stepped back. "I refuse. We're going to save you. You aren't going to die. Not today. You're stronger than it is."

_Aunt,_

MurderSally!MurderAmy! NO WAY!

Tempest stuttered, tried to raise its arms, tried to step forward, tried to move its blades. But it felt like an army of small, two tailed orange foxes were dogpiling it. It continued to stutter before finally it fell forward, the light in its eyes shutting off.

Everyone stood on guard in case it was trying the lame duck technique, Everyone except Sally of course who stood perfectly at ease and knelt down, placing a hand carefully on the fox's body. "Don't worry."

Amy's hand went to her left ear, the one that was now half-gone, the blood having stained a good deal of her head quills red. Her eyes misted over. "Miles." Her heart had an inches-long fingernail through it.

"That wasn't Miles," Sally said. "He was suffering the entire time in there while this thing was trying to kill us with his body and he was forced to do nothing but watch." Mentally feeling over her body, Sally felt the cut marks all over her upper legs, midsection, chest and arms.

Thankfully none of them had found their true marks.

Sabre looked at Amy's scabbing over ear. "I think I might be able to repair the damage, but I can't make any promises."

"That was far too easy..." Locke murmured.

"You call that easy?" Knuckles snapped at him.

"What would you call it? He didn't manage to kill or cripple any of us, and the Master Emerald is still where it should be."

"We did out number him."

Locke shook his head. "And what's the point of sending a solo fighter against multiple defenders like that?"

"Maybe he was a test run," said Sabre, looking the cyber fox over. "We didn't cause most of the cracks in his armor." No one had noticed in the heat of battle, but Tempest's body was indeed covered in blood-soaked cracks and a couple of the great number of blades on its body had simply been broken off.

"Why send him when Riahta has those walls of muscle to serve as battering rams?" Knuckles pointed out.

"Who knows, maybe if he saw if this guy could make it, then he could send in the big boys," Sabre suggested.

Knuckles frowned. "Then why didn't he? Why divide his forces so needlessly and send just one fighter when he's already seen what we can do? This isn't some kid's show where the enemy has a huge collection of monsters and just sends them in a Conga line at the defenders one by one."

"He was sent here to die," Sally interjected.

"What?" Knuckles said, not getting it.

"Riahta sent him here to kill us and to die trying, the thing inside him was set to kill us all with little to no chance of actually winning. We were supposed to be his executioners."

"But why?!" Knuckles said, worrying at Sally's mental health.

"I don't know." Sally sighed. "But that intention was screaming from it the entire fight."

"And how do you even know that?" Knuckles felt like he was going in circles.

"Like I said, I heard it, or maybe I felt it. It wasn't so much its programming I was hearing as sensing its intent. At the same time Miles was constantly conflicting with it, confusing it. Its thoughts had no other direction, it was coming in as clear as day. Miles was screaming at the top of his lungs trying to get it to stop. I'm surprised none of you could sense it."

"Come off it Sally, you don't have a sixth sense!" Knuckles snapped.

Sally nodded. "I don't, but we do."

"How do you and I have a sixth sense?" Knuckles asked in confusion.

"I wasn't talking about you."

The poor echidna was utterly dumbfounded. "Then who?"

"_Us_." Sally's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Speak Mobian!" Knuckles demanded, his tiny brain close to exploding.

Sally breathed in deep in frustration. "Us, as in more than one here. Here, as in where I am standing right now. Myself, Sally Acorn, Us, myself and the host of everything else. The Sword of Acorns."

Knuckles stared dumbly at her. "?!…You're joking right? And couldn't you have just said that in the first place?!"

"I didn't want to have to spell it out. I thought it was obvious. And no, I'm not joking."

"You put that sword away right now!" Knuckles snapped.

Sally did so, if anything just to calm him down. "Happy?"

"Now throw the damn thing away!"

Sally's face was dead serious. "No."

"Have you forgotten everything Spectre said when he gave that thing to you? Or did you lose your short-term memory?"

"No, I haven't. And your ideas of the Sword's nature are slanted. What Spectre said is both right and wrong. The sword doesn't devour the spirit of the user, nor is it a parasite. I was a part of it before I ever touched it. Yes, if someone who wasn't a part did try to use it, it would try to make that person a part of the whole and thus destroy who that person was. But you can't cut up the puzzle piece to fit when it already does."

"That's the sword talking," said Knuckles, who hadn't understood a word of what Sally had just said.

Sally dumped the scabbard next to Tempest. "No it isn't. Being in contact with it gives me a sense of clarity, a sense of seeing the world through a lens that brings just a little more of the world into true focus. It's rather like your partnership with the Master Emerald."

Knuckles actually took a step back. "And how do you know that?!"

"The Sword told me," Sally said politely, the sword had also told Sally its real name, but she figured Knuckles thought she was insane enough.

Sally wondered for a moment if things were similar with Athair in his own way, as you came to understand more of the abstract and tried to convey it to others, the more people saw your sense of reality deviating from the norm, and thus were insane, which from their own perspectives was a correct point of view. But to her it felt more like stepping up a ladder, or perhaps just maturing. Sally held back a laugh at this realization. She had been just as scared at losing herself when she had hit puberty and new ideas had begun to flow into her head!

During this entire debate and discussion, Hawking calmly walked over to the fox, and gripped his hand into a precise half-fist hovering over Tails' neck.

"Time to end this," Hawking said; ready to deliver the final blow.

"Over my dead body!" On reaction alone Amy promised, leaping over Tempest's still form and bringing her hammer to bear.

"Didn't you listen to a word I just said?" Sally demanded to Hawking.

"I will not trust an alien whose mind is under the influence of a weapon!" the old man spat. "Out of the way little girl!" he snapped at Amy.

Amy didn't move an inch. "No way!"

Knuckles snarled. "Try to pretend you're not you and don't be an idiot!" Knuckles could tell Hawking was about to do something very permanent.

Amy tightened her grip on her hammer. "I won't let you hurt Miles!"

"Miles is dead," Knuckles said matter of fact. Sally rolled her eyes at this. Hadn't anyone been listening to her?

Amy shook her head at the pragmatic echidna. "No he isn't! He was fighting this monster on the inside during the whole fight, just as we were fighting it on the outside! He needs help not a mercy killing! We have to be able to save him! Athair said not to kill him, right?"

Knuckles couldn't believe this. "You don't believe in destiny or prophecy little girl, I can tell just by looking at you! So don't use it as justification for your foolishness!"

"If it gives me hope for Miles, then sign me up and call me a believer! I won't let you hurt him, and I am going to save him, whether you like it or not!"

For all of Knuckles' rough edges, he didn't believe in this kind of collateral damage. Why, when Knuckles finally had a chance to say no to that old man's demands, did he go along anyway? 'Do I have no free will?'

Sabre and Locke looked at each other and nodded. "You're all morons," Hawking said matter of fact before Locke and Sabre grabbed him from behind, each taking one arm and beginning to pull him back.

"You're outvoted again Hawking," Sabre said. "Stand down and take it like a man."

Hawking didn't resist but did glare daggers at all of them. "You've just doomed us all!"

"No," Said Sally calmly as she picked the scabbard and sword back up. "We may have just saved ourselves and everyone else."

"I still say you're doing just what the enemy wants you to do by letting _it_ live."

...

No! They should have killed him! Why did they show mercy?! He's their enemy! Were they all mad?! Every being in this flip-flop inversed reality was a fool! Nothing but idiots!

And the little brat hadn't even been able to kill _one_ of them! What a complete failure!! Tempest's psychic presence had left Riahta, but Tempest's power had yet to return to him. He was still alive. Maybe he had fallen down a deep trench during the battle? No, he could sense he was still near where the battle had begun. Then why hadn't the enemy killed him?! The time for games was over! If he couldn't have his power back, then he would take it back!

Riahta teleported right in front of his weapons in the holding pen, looking so unhappy that it was a wonder his facial skin didn't tear at the seams.

"Tempest has been taken by the enemy. I don't care! He was weak!" He didn't even bother to hide behind his facade of wisdom and kindness this time like when he had first met his crop, he no longer had the time to spare on pretend games. "But I must reclaim the power I gave him! It is far too valuable to leave in their hands! Go!" And the dangerous knowledge Tempest had....If the truth fell into the hands of the enemy or his pawns; Riahta doubted he had the power left to mentally control ten mindless bodies at once.

The knights were knocked dizzy by the force of Riahta's command, and by the context Tempest had just been put into. Tempest had been taken by their opposers and was still alive. How did that make sense? Plus, Tempest, yes Tempest, he had gone off sometime ago before that weird scream. Why hadn't they thought of him in the mean time? When Riahta had shown them Mourning Star as the newest member of their team, they hadn't asked where Tempest was so he could get to meet her too. Why was that?

Lightspeed struggled to grasp ideas about Tempest but they felt just out of reach. Tempest had been very, very important to him just a while ago, right? Then why should he have trouble remembering him? Hadn't there been two others too? Killed in their last two fights? Why hadn't they mourned them? All right, it was war, but you still at least acknowledged the ends of your comrades so you could tell their families and friends.

Family, friends, there was something odd here.

Tempest had been his best, ally? Partner? Friend? Little brother?

There were so many. Had been? 'He is.' Lightspeed felt his head swim.

Tempest was his buddy. He was also cooler than any of the other Knights, he was a main character, so how could he be weak?

The different parts of Riahta's programming conflicting, along with Riahta's 'contradictive' orders, froze many of the Order Knights with indecision.

This left Riahta only more frustrated. Bunch of babies, have to lead them by the hand in everything and they still manage to screw up!

"Master," Lightpseed said, finally getting enough wits to speak. "How can you be so concerned about Tempest's power? Shouldn't we be more concerned about Tempest himself? Wouldn't it be cooler if he did a daring breakout leaving the enemy crippled as they comically blame each other for their close victory while we-"

"Silence!" Riahta lost control and his wits. Black lightning shot out from his fingertips striking Lightspeed and any Knight who had the misfortune to be close to him. A pawn's purpose was to obey, not to think. "It is not for you to understand, only to do! Mourning Star! Shine! Lightspeed! All of you go as one and attack them together!" Riahta's roar left blood splattering the Knights. "Just bring me my power!"

Riahta teleported them away, not caring how much power he burned by doing so, he'd get it all back and more when he reclaimed Tempest's energy! He'd kill the little freak of nature himself.

The other seven Knights just stood there looking at him stupidly. Riahta ignored them completely; they didn't matter, not right now at least.

He hadn't sent all his Knights, and instead sent only his best, for he wanted to be able to focus only on a few minds this time, he would have no foul ups from spreading his mind too thin, not this time or any point in the no future. Plus he had another part of this plan that would get back what he wanted regardless of the battle's outcome. Riahta giggled at this thought.

Then, once he had Tempest's power back, he would unleash his horde of Super Knights upon the palace, and decimate it until nothing but the Master Emerald and the bleeding corpses of its protectors remained.

…

Sally's head shot up. She took her fighting stance and drew her weapon in a flash, holding the hilt so hard the skin underneath her fur turned white. "We're about to have company!" she shouted, startling everyone. Everyone else looked around frantically. Had it been a distraction after all? "Above!" Sally loudly clarified.

The defenders looked up, just seeing the impossibly high ceiling of Hidden Palace, and a tinny, tiny, little spot of moonlight shining through a kitsune-shaped hole at the top of the chamber.

Amy realized she really had totally lost track of time, she had been sure it was still light out. Then the bigger reality hit her, along with the Guardians.

"Dammit! We forgot to close it after the child smashed through!" Locke cursed.

"This was their plan all along, I warned you!" Hawking hissed.

"No," Sally said, her eyes not leaving the expected entry point. "This is their backup plan! Everyone get ready!"

"I'll get Spectre and the others," Sabre said.

"No, it's not all of them," Sally corrected again.

"And how could you even hope to know-"

Shine, having the largest build came through first, followed by Sonic/Lightspeed, and finally came something else, something new and horrible.

The monsters headed straight down at them like ballistic missiles. Hawking brought up a force barrier in time, one that shattered on impact and knocked the eldest Guardian to the ground, but had the desired effect of deflecting the Knights off course and making them land in a triangle around the defenders, the monsters still squarely on their feet.

'Why did it have to be these three?' Sally thought.

Knuckles openly gasped at the red dragon before him. It was her. It couldn't be her. But it was her. Knuckles felt himself falter. And for the first time since this had all begun, Knuckles truly understood what Sally and the annoying hedgehog had been forced to endure.

Knuckles had braced himself for some twisted thing with only a passing resemblance to the love of his life. Something with all the body parts in all the wrong places. Something with snakes for hair, something with a lamprey for its womanhood with a pair of jaws for its chest and its limbs all going in the wrong direction.

Of course this meant he was going to encounter something completely different. For it, she, was decidedly still female. In spite of himself, Knuckles still felt himself physically attracted to the winged beast. And it was very much still recognizable as Julie. Those eyes were still hers. But so empty, vacant, there was nothing inside at all. They were purple gems that had lost their sparkle.

Knuckles croaked in horror. "J-Julie…"

The voice was hers, but the tone and manner, were those of a stranger, and a total match to her dead eyes. "My name…is Mourning Star. Knuckles…are you…pleased to see me again?"

Amy did a wild take. "That's the echidna?!"

Hawking sweatdropped. "Well, I guess that's the end of one problem."

"Shut up Hawking!" Sabre and Locke said together.

"Y…" Knuckles answered truthfully. "Yes."

The dragon seemed surprised (the dead eyes actually showing expression for a second) by Knuckles' answer, as did everyone else. Then again, Sally and Amy would have answered the same about their loved ones.

"Protect the front gate!" Hawking yelled.

"No!" Sally barked. "Everyone form a circle around Miles, he's the target!"

"Don't listen to her!" Hawking warned.

Lightspeed slashed one of his arms sideways through the air as if flinging a cape. "Outta our way, we're here to take Tempest back!"

Amy snarled. "You leave him alone!"

"Dad would never forgive me if I let you lot touch one of his Chosen Ones," Sabre added.

"If you want him then you can forget about getting him," Locke agreed.

"You'd protect an enemy from your enemies?" Shine asked incredulously.

"Riahta's the enemy," Sally spoke. "No, not even him, he's just a puppet controlling puppets, the Dark Walkers are the true enemy."

Shine snarled. "How _dare_ you speak that way of the Great and Powerful Riahta!"

"We'll say of him what we please," Sally told him.

"Enough with the gratuitous pre-game chatter, let's do this!" Lightspeed whined.

"Two on one, we can take 'em!" Amy declared, gripping her cracked but still trusty hammer.

"Ha! Ha! Hahahah!" Droned Shine, his new hands on his replaced metal hips.

"You cannot hope to defeat us now! Not with our newfound power and abilities! We are infinitely greater than we were before! Your cheap tricks will not avail you this day!"

Hawking took a step forward. "I'm shutting you up before your stupidity defiles the palace!"

"Right besides ya, ancestral dad," Sabre said.

"Knuckles..." Mourning Star growled, stepping forward. A very nervous Knuckles held his ground.

Locke stood right behind him. "You don't have to stand up to her alone, son."

Sally looked at her other pink 'rival'. "Amy, I'm giving you full permission to hit Sonic as hard you can for rejecting you."

Amy stared at Sally in surprise, "But-"

"He can take it!"

Amy obidently nodded, "Alright."

"Less blabbing more screaming!" Lightspeed charged, the other Knights took it as their cue and leaped into battle.

…

"Begone, knave!" Shine shouted, bringing his giant sword down. Sabre caught it with both hands, causing the beautifully polished blue floor the fighters were standing on to crack into an impact crater.

As Sabre struggled to keep from being cut in two, Hawking raced up the flat of the blade and began pummeling the Knight's head. "You unevolved ass! That floor was over two thousand years old!"

"The new dawn shall wash away the preconceptions of the old!" The living scarf took hold of the eldest Guardian and slammed him into the floor. Hawking brought his fists forward at the last moment to keep his head from taking the hit, creating another crater and leaving the ancient Guardian even more upset. "Don't you have any respect for the past at all? It'll take months to repair this kind of damage!"

"Respect is earned, not given!" Shine continued his monologue.

"Were you this crazy before you were resurrected as a sin against Aurora?" Sabre moaned, still holding up the sword and readjusting his feet.

"The Great Walkers gave me clarity, purpose, wisdom!"

"Wisdom isn't given, you twit!" Sabre managed to sidestep, bringing the sword totally down onto the floor, leaving an indentation and shaking the grounds. "If you're going to blow your horn, at least get your abstracts right!" Going under the oversized arms still holding onto the overly thick blade, Sabre jack-hammered the Knight in the gut, leaving bleeding cracks. This caused the Knight to bend over slightly, along with his living scarf. Hawking took the chance to bring up both his legs onto the Knight's neck, using them as a brace to pull at the living garment trying to claw at his sides. The thing quivered under the strain, and Shine moaned from the double amount of pain.

Finally, in a spray of blood, the living scarf gave. Hawking kicked off the Knight's head as Shine brought his claws together at the top of his helmeted skull where Hawking's throat had been a moment before.

Hawking took one look at the living…thing he was holding as it flayed about like a reptile's disconnected tail, dripping blood as its motions became slower. The elder Guardian tossed it aside, where it stopped moving, and slowly began to melt into nothing as the ancient rejoined his descendant in battle.

…

Lightspeed caught the shaft of Amy's hammer in one set of claws and Sally's sword in the other. Lightspeed's knees buckled but his feet didn't move an inch. Sally pressed her advantage, putting her weight into it and forcing Lightspeed's claws back.

"Come on Maurice! If Miles can wake up from this nightmare than so can you and everyone else! I know you don't want to do these things! Not really, so just stop and think-" Sally and Lightspeed's faces got so close they accidentally kissed. Lightspeed looked momentarily stunned.

"Sonic?" Amy whispered.

Lightspeed suddenly sneered. "I'm sorry, the number you have reached is-ugh!" Lightspeed looked down to see the electrum sword sticking in his side. "You … you actually stabbed me."

"Oh come on Sonic! It was just a flesh wound!" Sally kicked him and pushed him off the blade.

That wasn't what Lightspeed meant of course, the idea she had gotten such a solid strike in threw him for a loop. This was supposed to be the dramatic rescue! They were supposed to rescue Tempest and leave the enemy devastated, just like back when they had been Freedom Fighters!

Sally's leg complained, it still hadn't gotten over kicking Tempest's armor, but Sally ignored it. Sally realized that Lightspeed hadn't let go of Amy's hammer when Sally kicked him and neither had Amy. The two hedgehogs spun around each other in a mess of living and living metal quills.

Amy got the wits to let go of her hammer and let Lightspeed tumble away from her as she drew her crossbow. She hesitated, uncertain for a moment that she wanted to hit her former crush with a possibly lethal arrow. But the hesitation only lasted long enough for Lightspeed to stand up before she fired and struck a direct hit with the exploding tip, which felt like a light punch to Lightspeed's gut. "Heh, you sure never take rejection well."

"This is for Miles, not you!" Amy snapped.

"_This_ is for you!" Sally ran up, swinging her sword in an upward arc and cutting into Lightspeed's armor, drawing a surprising amount of blood. And still Sally didn't go for a killing blow. "Now come to the transcendent realization that you're just being used already!"

"I think the audience got tired of you saying that after the fifth time!"

"Now you know how I feel every time you talk about how 'way past cool' you were on the latest mission, but I embraced that part of you because I love you! Now how many more times do I have to say 'snap out of it?'"

"Zero!" Lightspeed stabbed his claw forward to impale Sally through the heart, she sidestepped his attack and brought the sword down on his arm, leaving a bleeding gash through the armor and brought the blade back up in a slash that cut off a number of his quills.

"My 'do!" the hedgehog cried.

Sally smirked. "Thanks for the reassurance it's still you in there somewhere."

…

"…Knuckles…die!" Mourning Star whispered as her claws met his fist spikes. Locke double hammer-fisted her head, knocking it sideways, but her extra long neck kept it from breaking but didn't protect her from Knuckles pushing her back as a result.

"Your girlfriend isn't much for words, is she son?" Locke quipped.

"Not now, dad!" Knuckles barked, jumping up to avoid a tail sweep and twisting in the air to avoid two different claw slashes.

Knuckles was a little surprised Julie didn't react to Knuckles calling the echidna next to him 'dad.' As far as Julie knew, Locke was dead. He guessed the brainwashing made that not really matter to her.

"I knew me meeting her was going to be a stressful occasion but I didn't think it would be this rough."

"I said could you lay off that for now!" Knuckles dodged a bullet fast snap of her jaws, he ran up the dragon's head and down her neck and jack-hammered her in the back. "And besides, you should be glad she's not drunk and firing her guns at your feet to make you dance…Julie! I don't know what Riahta told you, I don't know what he showed you, but it was nothing but lies!"

"The Great and Powerful Riahta reveals nothing but the proper vision of the truth," Mourning Star recited mechanically and monotone.

"I think it's safe to say she's seriously screwed up in the head right now son, maybe you should try to talk some sense into her when she's not trying to kill you." Locke rolled between the dragon's legs and took hold of her tail and began to spin it around, but Mourning Star dug her claws and talons into the raised pathway to stop her twirling and threw Locke through the air instead through the sudden reverse of momentum. The older Guardian bounced once and got up, ignoring the pain of a cracked shoulder blade.

"That's never stopped me before!" Knuckles defended, digging his own fists into the ground before ramming both his feet upwards snapping Mourning Star's jaw shut. "And it hasn't failed yet!"

"First time for everything son, take it from me. You have to stay dynamic!"

"Like you?" Knuckles rolled to the side of another quick bite and stabbed his spikes into her elongated neck, drawing blood from the armor.

"Point." Locke punched into her other side, but was tripped up by her tail and had to roll to he side fast to avoid ending up in the dragon's mouth. "Well, at least we're getting some quality time together, eh boy?"

"This isn't exactly my idea of quality time, dad."

"Get used to it son, it runs in the family!"

…

"Ha! You arrogant old men can not match my skills!" Shine boasted.

"What skills?!" Sabre spat, holding back the huge floating yellow arm trying to impale him several feet from Shine's body. "This is an ability, there's no skill involved at all!"

"What's the difference?" Shine asked confidently.

"Ability is what you have. Like a hedgehog's speed or a Terran's height," Hawking said in a similar position. "Skill is what you work for! You didn't work for any of what you have!"

"You old men are just scared of the new and what you don't understand and what threatens to change your lifestyles in the slightest!"

"You're stereotyping! I admit Hawking fits the bill-"

"Sabre!"

"-But you're just filling the air with noise just so you can hear the sound of your own voice! And you're not even taking full advantage of your abilities to begin with!"

"Skills! They are skills!" Shine retorted.

"No matter what you call them you might have killed us by now if you had exploited your tricks to their fullest rather than wasting time blowing hot air!"

"You are the ones blowing hot air! You know you cannot win!"

"Hawking, you ready?" Sabre asked.

The old echidna nodded. "Yes."

"Go!" Both men took their own legs out from under them, and the arms smashed into the edge of the railing-less pathway behind them, and momentarily teetered on the edge of the short drop to the uncut blue stalagmites and boulders below.

In that moment, Sabre and Hawking rushed forward and gave the Knight a two-way elbow sandwich to the chest, making the Knight finally shut up for a few precious seconds.

A moment later Hawking realized the direct causality of their flawed maneuver. He looked behind him and confirmed the worst. It floated down, torn apart by Shine's claws, pieces drifting onto the path and the rocks below.

"MY HAT!" While none of his family would deny Hawking's bigotry towards anything without dreadlocks, for half of his years as the standing Guardian he had been the head of the EST, taking risks right alongside the rest of the EST like any other officer who hadn't bought their way up the ranks or sat behind a desk in a cushy office and carelessly ordered their troops to their deaths, in his own way being radical. And he had legitimately climbed to his position. And that hat had held a world of memories to those times! "You…are… MINE!"

Shine knew this was the part where the enemy got overly angry and made mistakes. 'Hey, That 'knew' should have been in quotations!' Shine dimly came to realize this as Hawking pummeled him with Herculean strength using the Knight's own arm. Sabre just stood back and watched in fear of losing his head in the literal sense of the words. He could occupy himself with Shine's other arm as it tried to inch towards the fox boy anyway. "Where do you think you're going?" Sabre stomped the giant shiny metal limb with both feet, making it quiver.

…

Locke grabbed hold of the silver horns as the dragon tried to impale him. The beast instantly tossed him up in the air and proceeded to try and skewer him that way, but free of his gi, Locke opened up his spines and in a hasty glide flew out of the way and landed a few feet away. "You do know I'm going easy on her only because she's your girlfriend, right?"

Knuckles ducked Mourning Star's fist spikes and jumped over her tail, only to get smacked by one of her back wings, skidding him across the grand path and nearly over the edge. Would it have hurt the guys who made this to put in a guardrail, really? "Yeah, I kinda figured that. Same here."

Locke grabbed his son and pulled him out of the way of one of Mourning Star's stomp which she followed up with a tail swat. Locke pulled his legs in as she snapped at them in mid-air. "Good, for a second I thought she really was beating us to a pulp."

Mourning Star folded out her arm wings rather like Knuckles' spines and charged through the air, coming in low. Locke and Knuckles ducked as the sharp wing edges nearly beheaded them. "Come on, we're getting our hits in too!"

Knuckles saw she was making a beeline for Tails. He made a crouching leap and took hold of her tail, dragging his feet to slow her down. "Oh no you don't, Julie! We haven't finished our spar yet!"

As Mourning Star started to swing him around to try and send him flying, Locke raced around her and jumped up, trying to take hold of her neck, cutting off her breathing passage and forcing her to pass out. Instead, she flung her neck and tail together, making father and son butt heads and knocking them both off her.

"You sure we're just holding back?" Locke groaned.

Knuckles grunted. "Well I am. Look on the bright side, at least she doesn't have a breath weapon like a true dragon or she would have used it by now."

Mourning Star pulled her head back and took a deep breath.

"Son… " Locke knocked Knuckles upside the head. "Don't ever say things like that!" That was when Locke noticed they weren't the targets. It was the boy again! Moving as fast as his legs could carry him, Locke raced to the dragon's side and shoulder-tackled her in the head, knocking the attack off course. The attack was an ultra-low sonic scream that vibrated out of her mouth and cracked and crumbled a stalagmite that was millimeters away from finally touching its stalactite brother. But that paled in comparison to what happened first as the sound waves torn away at Locke, cleanly flaying the skin on his outer arm and the corner of his shoulder. Locke screamed, and screamed, and screamed! Mourning Star struggled to catch her breath after the draining attack while Locke collapsed to the ground. From above Knuckles stomp-kicked her snout, snapping it shut and smashing her head jaw-first into floor, disorienting her for a precious moment. "Dad!"

Locke calmed himself and with tears in his eyes he hissed at his son. "I'm perfectly all right," he lied, which was nothing new. "Sabre will be able to patch this up in no time! You worry too much. Now can we just focus on keeping your woman from eating the tyke?" Locke cauterized his arm with a flash of flame.

Knuckles' eyes lingered on the mess of his father's arm, but sighed. "Okay." 'I don't get it though… didn't Sonic say they wanted Tails alive? Then why did Julie just try to off him? Is Julie trying to help us? Or is there something else going on here?'

That was when Mourning Star's talons slammed on top of the two echidnas from behind, pressing them into the floor.

Mourning Star lowered her head and hissed in a strained voice, "Good…bye…Knuckles…"

…

Sally backpedaled from Lightspeed and felt a new line of blood on the ridge of her nose as she sidestepped a charged stab from the hedgehog crossing her path. She sensed pain from Knuckles, and knew she had to look at him right now. She saw the state he and Locke and were in, and knew they were less than a minute away from dying. Hawking and Sabre couldn't make it in time even if they noticed. Sally was his only hope.

"Amy! Can you keep Sonic busy for about fifty seconds?" Sally clipped as fast she could.

"Just watch me!" Amy said confidently, though she didn't understand what Sally was getting at with her back was to the fight with Mourning Star.

"Your life depends on it!" Sally shouted, already leaving Amy to her own fate and raced towards the dragon, weapon raised.

Amy reached under her dress's helm and felt how many bolts she had left, not many. She hadn't fired a single shot during the battle aboveground or at Echidnaopolis. Now she was burning through her ammo. She would just have to make every shot count.

Lightspeed turned to face Sally, fully ready to go through Amy. "Hey! We're not done yet!" Amy fired a bolt right between the bio-weapon's eyes, cracking the armor. Lightspeed screamed and covered his bleeding face. "You little loudmouth!"

"You haven't heard loud!" Amy retorted, reloading to fire again.

…

"Come on, Julie!" Sally taunted at the top of her lungs. "I thought you'd love a chance to go one on one with me! You were dying to before and I know there's nothing holding you back now! So how about we go at it for Knuckles, winner takes all!"

"I thought she and you were through." Locke managed to raise an eyebrow from his death grip spot.

"Not now, dad!" Knuckles whispered harshly.

Sally saw no reaction in those eyes, and no more attention than that which would be directed to any new opponent. She had come to expect that from that the Knights in general, but Mourning Star didn't even made a gesture at Sally, let alone a creative obscenity that Julie-Su could have spun out of thin air on the fly and still have time to have a cup of tea. Which, given how Riahta should have hyper-stimulated Julie's worst traits to make her want to murder her soulmate and her upbringing notwithstanding a number of people who she held no grudge against anyway, was rather worrying.

Sally narrowed her eyes, this was Julie's body, no mistake, and Julie's soul was still there, but there didn't seem to be any true programming either. Was Julie doing this of her own will? No. If she were, she'd have jumped at Sally screaming blood oaths. Something very wrong was going on here, but it wasn't something obvious like it had been with Miles for her to pin down in a battle like this.

The hot pink, almost red, dragon slashed at her with a hind claw. Sally dove between the space above it and below where she knew the wing slam that would come a second later hit. Getting past the dragon's defenses for a precious couple of seconds, in a flash Sally managed to cut off the tip of Mourning Star's tail, making the beast shout out at the sting as blood leaked from the wound. 'Can still feel pain at least,' Sally thought. The dragon twisted its head around, now totally focused on Sally. The princess drove the sword into the dragon's metal hip, unleashing blood and making Mourning Star now truly roar in pain. She reared back instinctually like a true dragon and Locke and Knuckles found themselves free for the moments they needed to race out of the dragons' grasp.

Locke ducked and rolled as Mourning Star tried to grab him a second time. "Son, please forgive me if I stop pretending to be a gentleman now and give your Julie a proper punishment for her most unladylike behavior."

Mourning Star managed to grab Knuckles in mid-air with a second claw, but Knuckles double hammer-fisted a pressure point by chance, cracking the armor and forcing Mourning Star to open her claws and drop him to the ground. "It's all right dad, I was pretty much thinking the same thing anyway, but I think you might have trouble doing it on your own with just one arm."

Locke kicked and broke off the top of a conveniently near stalagmite that rose above the raised path and threw it straight at Mourning Star, which she broke apart with a swat from her back wings and provided the perfect cover for Locke to smash her left arm's center wing mast with his good fist. "I couldn't ask you to harm your dearest."

Knuckles ran alongside the dragon, he stopped right before she smashed her front talon right where he would have been if he kept running, scurried over it, and igniting his fist this time, ran his spike fists across her side, leaving no trail of blood but giving her plenty of pain and damaging her armor more. "Naw, Julie and I believe in equal treatment. It's no big deal, I've broken her bones enough times in sparing matches, she won't mind."

As Mourning Star raised her head to scream from Knuckles' attack, Locke jabbed her in the neck guard, causing her to cough. She slammed her head down to crush him, but he sidestepped the counterattack. "All right then. Too bad my right arm is timed out or I could show you quite the finishing move, so we'll just have to make due."

"Yep!" Knuckles grinned, showing off his shark-like teeth.

Sally knew Julie had completely forgotten about her (again showing that something wasn't right about her in comparison to the other Knights), but instead of pressing this advantage, quickly made the distance to help Amy, or rather was going to, when something hit her like thunder, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

…

Though her fifty seconds had come and gone, Amy was still giving the fight her all, alternating between her bow and hammer to keep Sonic off balance. Amy began to wonder just why Sonic, not even once had used his signature spindash technique. Amy knew she wouldn't have stood a chance if he had. And yet he was sticking with traditional fighting moves. So without realizing it Amy uncovered the same flaw with Riahta's programming that Knuckles had in Knothole, and thus her chances for survival dramatically went up.

Amy had never been this hard pressed in a fight like this in her life. She felt the claws and quills cut at her skin and dress, she felt her hammer crack just a little bit more with every blow she blocked or made, but she fought on, and lived! Every one of Lightspeed's attacks seemed to come just a little bit slower, she saw each one coming just a little bit faster, her thoughts were no longer on her own survival, but of the price Miles was likely to pay if she failed. She didn't care what he had done to her ear, or tried to do to her, she trusted Sally when she said it hadn't been Miles, that her Miles had helped protect her from the thing that had done it. And so inch-by-inch from the intensity of the fight, Amy was slowly but surely pushed towards a non-material kind of edge.

…

Sally thought quickly as she calmly walked back and stood right over the still very unconscious Miles 'Tails' Prower and looked down at him, then at all the fighting going on around her, and then up at the hole in the stone sky. ~If Riahta wants Miles back so badly, why did he only send three? His best three yes, but why hold the others in reserve? Is this whole thing a distraction for the Master Emerald?~ Sally gripped the Sword tighter, closing her eyes in concentration. ~No. Riahta right now is totally focused on Miles, but yes, these three are distracting us, but from what? Three high level units coming from multiple directions, no sigh of an enemy from above, and no hints of anything from below. This is a triangle but it's a strange one. Miles has shifted from the center. Are we being lead on? If the point of the triangle is the front, and the base is the rear…then the real threat is from behind!!~

Sally twisted around, her sword moving through the air at a speed just below the speed of sound, deflected the kunai that was speeding towards the tiny soft spot where the back of her neck met her skull.

…

Shade had been sent a short time after the three other Order Knights, slowly climbing across the ceiling and down the giant natural pillars of stone. While the others came at the heroes first, grabbing their attention, Shade would claim the prize, or destroy it depending upon the circumstances.

While one could point out it might have been simpler to ignore Tempest and the battling heroes entirely and just have Shade make a run for the Master Emerald, in order for Riahta's plans to work, he needed to be there personally, along with the rest of his knights, or at least a certain number of them. A very _magical_ number.

Shade had been surprised when the princess had deflected his strike. It seemed his weapons were still audible and visible when they left his body. The Great Riahta must have much faith in him! Shade drew his katanna, he would have to correct his path of assault, and she would not see or hear him even when death took her. Then he would claim the target while his fellows kept the infidels distracted.

Seconds were stretched thin like taffy for Sally as time seemed to slow down. She knew Valdez was her attacker. Everyone else was too trapped in their own fights to help in time. Sally had survived the first attack, meant to be the last. Valdez would not make the same mistake twice. She would have to hear him out. No, that wasn't going to work. Sally could feel it: Valdez wasn't scared of being heard at all. She wouldn't hear him coming, and he would kill her and Miles without a fight.

Sally wouldn't let that future happen. The seconds still moving like molasses she increased the grip on her weapon ever so slightly. She had to find him without relying on the five senses. 'That's impossible. No, just physically impossible.' Valdez wouldn't attack from the same direction he had thrown the kunai, but would he take the obvious path and attack from the opposite direction? The fur on Sally's neck raised, she knew he was coming closer. She knew the sands in the hourglass were emptying for her and Miles the more she stood there and did nothing.

Sally gripped her sword with both hands and felt a wave of serenity wash through her.

'Same Source, same power.' The thought crossed Sally's mind. The chaos emeralds reacted to the perception and the strength of heart of their user more than anything else.

'This sword is forged from the same Source that birthed the chaos emeralds, therefore if I can just visualize it, think it, see it, I can do it. Look into all possibilities and find the actual!'

Time was running out. Sally struggled but felt she was looking through blinds, feeling through gloves. She had to break through the painted window. She had to protect Miles, save Maurice. She had to. And then time stopped all together.

…

Sally opened her eyes and she was not in Hidden Palace, but somewhere else entirely. Sally stood atop a thundering waterfall, her form devoid of all things material as her truest essence was exposed to the elements. The sky was a mix of pastels like a sunset or sunrise. The cliff went on forever in both directions, meeting a horizon that seemed much farther off than the horizon on her world.

The golden silver water crashed into a fine mist at the base of the cliff far, far below, emitting a warm rainbow-colored light. Sally knew what she needed was at the bottom of this waterfall….but once she fell; there was no climbing back up. What she found down there would be a part of her forever. Sally wondered if she could survive such a plunge, and if she could survive the irreversible change it would bring about. Did she have a choice? No. Of course not. Gathering up all her courage for those she loved, Sally dived deep into the heart of all things.

…

Real time. Sally deflected the invisible, silent sword as it came right in front of her, having been aimed to impale her through the heart. The two swords slammed into the floor sending up tiny bits of stone shrapnel. Everyone stopped in their tracks, Knights and defenders alike.

Some were stunned at the surprise attacker, others, for a reason, were focused on Sally.

Sally swore at the fake ninja in front of her. "Touch my baby and we'll kill you." Her voice sent chills down even Amy's spine.

The other fights stopped, the defenders in awe or fear of what they were seeing. Even the Knights couldn't help but watch this strange exchange, though for Mourning Star, it was like her body had simply stopped moving, even her eyes stuck in the same position like a toy whose batteries had run down.

Shade backflipped as Sally made a thrust with her sword where his throat had been a moment before. Not once had Shade dropped his cloak.

An emotion momentarily broke through his programming, and Shade for one split second knew fear.

"Those eyes…" Riahta nearly suffered another heart attack at what he saw through Shade's senses. It was like looking into the eyes of an Angel of Death.

The irises of Sally's eyes were not blue but gold, and just looking into them, Shade felt a final judgment being laid upon him, a righteous wrath, a burning need to give just reward to the wicked and grant final release to those who were but pawns of evil.

Every muscle in Sally's body was tensed to lash out in the blink of an eye, to move in the spaces between heartbeats and bring swift death on anything that dared try to harm those who were most precious to her.

Shade was invisible to the normal light spectrum, and he knew ground squirrels couldn't see into ranges beyond it. But every motion he took, every step he made, those golden eyes followed him. Like a laser beam, her eyes were locked onto him. With clenched teeth, Sally continued to menacingly glare at the 'invisible' Order Knight. Shade circled his enemy and objective, shifting the way his skin and weapons were deflecting the light off his body every few steps, but no matter how he altered his stealth form, those golden eyes remained forever glued on him.

Shade threw several shuriken at Sally's feet and across her sides, trying to get a reaction from her, to try and make her change her position so Shade could take advantage of an opening and kill her.

Sally wouldn't take the bait, she wouldn't move from that spot at that moment for the Crown of God.

Realizing how meaningless his stealth was now, Shade tried to attack using psychological warfare. Fading in and out of the perceptions of those around them with each word, he spoke. "Your body is covered in cuts and gashes, your lifeblood slowly drips a little bit more from you with every moment, you do not have the strength left in your body to block my attack in time again, this is the end for both you and your pet kitsune princess!"

Sally wasn't fazed in the slightest. Body running on fumes, maybe, but they would last long enough to protect Miles from him.

Amy yelped. "Where is he?"

Knuckles hissed. "I can't tell!"

'What has she become?' Hawking asked himself, horrified by Sally's transformation (mainly because it meant she could possibly overcome not only him, but all the Guardians, in a fight.).

Shade was the ultimate ninja master Riahta had said so. He could not be defeated by a weak upper body strength royal brat! It was absurd! He had nothing to fear! Just one attack, it was all he needed to complete his mission, and return victorious without a mark on him like any true ninja!

Sally watched his perverted aura as he moved, so twisted, so violated, so sad, and they didn't have the time to purify it. They could only keep him from hurting their Miles. And there was only one surefire way to do that without getting killed themselves. She made the decision of what was most important to her and struck.

Shade gathered his entire inner chi, his inner strength, his spiritual power that would strike true through the woman and her foolish western-style sword! He charged forward, faster than light, faster than thought, Lightspeed was a statue compared to him. The woman looked right at him and he knew she saw her death.

There was a momentary flash of gold light, nothing to worry about. He leaped clean over the princess and his target, it was done, he had made it past her defenses. Now to perform the task and bring glory and honor upon himself! He landed and rolled a couple times before coming to a stop at the feet of the clueless Knuckles.

Um. Why was his body laying there without his head? Did this pink chameleon with her chao here have an answer?

She did.

...

The ninja's eyes snapped open from his meditative trance. His face kept its usual stone-cold expression.

"Espio?" Mighty asked.

Espio's voice was harsh and firm. "It is done!"

...

Riahta sucked wind and frantically felt around his own neck, the feedback making him feel the beheading in a very real sense. The mad yet evil sage felt dizzy, his nose was bleeding again. That made three Knights he had lost. A precious three of his weapons destroyed, his margin for error reduced with each one. Now another of his favorite toys had been broken. He wouldn't lose a fourth! He wouldn't let it happen! He would not allow it!

"I shall not be denied!" Riahta bellowed as he willed a staff-wide hole in the floor of the Vengeance right where he was standing, and hurled a bolt of black lightning downwards that created a shockwave as it left the ship, shooting through the air and into the hole in the ground leading to Hidden Palace, right where Tempest lay on the ground, too fast for any one being to block.

Sally leaped in front of her child and lashed out with her blade, deflecting the black bolt precisely the way it had come, sending it right back along it's route through the air and striking Riahta's staff, knocking the evil sage on his rear and leaving his serpent staff smoking.

Riahta spewed words that would have made any innocent flower in earshot wither and die.

The Knights below ground all sucked in breath and looked confused.

"Retreat!" Shine bellowed. Mourning Star snarled with a confused look before bolting back up through the air, taking Lightspeed and Shine with her.

"Home run," said Amy, looking rather impressed by Sally's deflective shot.

"Ugh! My entire arm is numb!" Sally cursed, dropping her steaming sword and rubbing her sword arm with her good one. "We are not doing that again!"

Hawking tore Shine's sword off the path and aimed it at the retreating dragon. "Say good-bye."

Knuckles realized what he was doing, and shoulder tackled the eldest Guardian out of the way at the last moment. "No!"

"You idiot!" Hawking spat, dropping the weapon.

Knuckles spoke, actually mortified. "You were going to kill Julie, she was on the run. She was no longer a threat to us."

Hawking didn't look all that surprised. "She still intends to kill us? Then she's still a threat!"

"She's still Julie; Athair said I'd get a …chance to…" He froze. Sally and Amy glared daggers into Knuckles' gut.

"And you tried to kill me for not killing Miles? You self-serving unevolved hypocrite!" Amy asked with venom on her tongue.

Knuckles wanted to say so many things to this brat right now, to put her in her place. But he couldn't counter what she had said at all. Knuckles slumped his shoulders and said nothing else. He had thought it would be so easy; to do what needed to be done. And he had beaten down Amy and Sally for daring to hope. Now here he stood the object of his own foolishness…_again_.

"Out of the mouths of the less experienced," Sally spoke, seeing the blue metal scales melt off the muscles and the faux ninja equipment crumble into dust, never flinching, for they had seen worse over the many centuries. "It's finished Espio. As you wanted."

…

A few minutes later back aboard the Vengeance, the other Knights stood confused at the empty handed return of their 'teammates.' And Lightspeed was only more confused. That look in Sally's eyes, it was like it had stabbed through his own eyes and right into his brain.

"Master," Lightspeed said. "Why did you send Shade after the rest of us? And what did he mean by 'this is the end for you and your pet kitsune?' I thought we were sent to bring Tempest back alive."

"YOU HEARD NOTHING!" And so Lightspeed had not. Riahta instantly coughed up another mass of blood, it was truly a wonder of nature he had any left in his frame at all by this time.

Only two to spare now. A dangerous margin. His one hope was that Tempest's personality was able to wake up and make another kamikaze run at the enemy, and failing that, at least keep the abomination from ever revealing what the fox had learned. Riahta knew he only had one hand left to play before the game was over. And the time limit for his turn was coming to its end.

…

"I guess the old saying is true. There is nothing more dangerous than a mother protecting her young," Sabre observed, picking up Valdez's skull.

Hawking breathed in deep. "So now what do we do with it?" He pointed at the fox.

"You can do little," said Sally. "But we might be able to help him; his heart and the monster are not mixed together like the others. We simply have to break his soul out of the monster's spiritual shell."

"What you mean?" Amy asked. This was her Miles they were talking about. "And can you skip the mumbo jumbo?"

Sally looked insulted but spoke in slow small words. "I'm going to use the sword to dive into Miles' soul, find where he's being held prisoner inside his own spirit, destroy the infection that's Riahta's programming, and wake up the real Miles."

"Oh no you're not!" Amy said, marching up to the princess without any sign of fear. "I am!"

Sally shook her head. "This is not your place."

"Like Chaos it isn't! Miles is as much mine as yours! I wasn't there for him when he was betrayed by St. John, and I wasn't there when he was played into hurting people at Knothole! I'm here now, and I'm not missing my chance!"

"This isn't something you can just do," Hawking said, not trusting the sword anyway.

"Actually she could," Sally said, surprising everyone. "But you're not a part of the sword Amy, if you can't hold your own ego, it won't join with you, it will absorb you."

Amy faltered for a moment but stood her ground. "I'm not scared."

"Liar."

"Okay. But I won't let it stop me!"

"Don't be a fool you stupid child!" Locke snapped.

Amy glared at him. "I know I'm risking my very self to save the person that's most important to me. I'm no child."

Sally closed her eyes and spoke calmly. "If that is what you wish."

Sally flipped the sword around and held it out to the pink hedgehog. She hesitated for only a second, and then Amy Rose took hold of the Sword of Acorns.

…

She wasn't here anymore. She was among so many, and yet one, she was an ice cube in a cup of boiling water, she heard the Voice from all around. Her thoughts remained on Miles alone; she had no thoughts of self to take.

~You are not of the bloodline,~ the sword said.

-I don't care,- Amy replied.

~You are not of the bloodline. Begone,~ the sword repeated.

-Forget about it.-

~You are not of the bloodline. Begone or your immortal spirit shall be lumped back together with that from which all is born and you shall cease to exist.~

-If I can save Miles then I don't care,- Amy said with determination.

~What would you gain?~

-Mile's rescue.-

~You won't be there to enjoy it.~

-Miles will.-

~You aren't the first weakhearted one to try and wield us, only to be swept away by the river until you are but another part of the river. I hold all their memories and echoes and the selves that they threw away on the altar of selfish desire.~

-I don't care about myself here! Miles is all that matters, because I know he would the same for me. MORE than anything I would do for him! He's pure like that.-

~There is no such thing.~

-He is to me! And that's all that matters! If I have to give up Amy to save him, then I will!~

~So we are…~

-So we are….-

~So we aren't scared after all.~

-So we aren't scared after all.-

~It's so calm for us. We see Sally, she was here before, so she's here now. We see the fire for Sonic she has. Ours was so tiny in comparison. So many have been here. So many are here, no longer a self but a whole. But we can't be a true part of that whole. Because he isn't here, thus, there can be no whole. But we can see where the door to his world is.~

-So that's what it's like to be part of something greater than oneself.- Amy had no way of knowing every lover in history and in times to come (herself included) had thought the same thoughts on their wedding night.

~Open the door between souls for us.~

…

There was no sensation with the transfer from reality to the mindscape. She was simply among the Whole one moment, and a vast landscape the next.

The plane was a flat, freezing, bleak piece of land under a dead, black, empty sky. In the distance was a plateau, like a fat stunted pillar rising out of the ground. There was light white snow covering everything and a chilling wind biting at her. The entire land looked to be made of a silvery gray mass of rock.

There were no other features to the place. She noticed she had her weapons and dress on, then again, she wasn't about to go around naked inside Miles' soul, at least not today.

The feeling of the ground however, felt off, odd, not very much like rock at all.

As she casually glanced down Amy's skin turned a distinct white under her neon-pink fur, her eyes grew to the size of saucers, and her joints stiffened, she was trying to scream but the cries died in her throat before they could reach her mouth.

For what Amy saw, was the stuff of nightmares. Even though the ground felt solid under her, she could see beneath it quite clearly. Amy wished with all her heart and soul she couldn't. It wasn't stone, it was steel.

Beneath her Amy could see machines with the complexity of a snowflake stretching into infinity in the darkness below, and randomly scattered among them were Mobians mixed with the machinery in the most horrible ways imaginable. One had uninsulated wires running in and out of her body, another impaled randomly by stainless metal rods, a third had pieces of metal covering her like rot. Their flesh still had color and their expressions were not frozen by death and not a drop of blood could be seen, all of this only added to the terrible feeling building up inside Amy's gut.

A warm mind that was the heart of many touched hers and brought her mind back into working status.

"Little Rose it is okay, you can still go back if you want. Tails wouldn't blame you."

Amy did not respond immediately as if it took time for the message to reach her brain. "N-no, I-I'm fine, I was just a bit s-startled that's all." Amy wrenched her gaze from the twisted image beneath her and diverted her eyes upward. Taking in deep breaths in the cold she fought back the urge to flee, to escape, to get away from this dark and ugly place as her inner voice was shouting to. She hit it over the head with her hammer to shut it up.

This wasn't good, anything could happen here, and if Amy was to fall to pieces at the wrong time, it could be fatal for her and Miles.

"Little Rose, are you absolutely sure about this? We can only pull you out at this point and not beyond."

"I said I was fine. Don't worry," Amy retorted as the icy chills continued to race up and down her spine.

'You can do this Amy, no matter what the others think you're not ten anymore, not a tiny little girl who sleeps with her light on, just put one foot in front of the other and don't look down.'

Amy did so, holding her head neither high nor low she marched forward. Amy found her mind flashing back to what she had just seen, the bodies and the machines. A tear traveled down her cheek, thank heaven there was no here to see it.

"Come on Amy, we should head to that plateau, it's the only landmark here," she murmured to herself, clearly going insane.

She marched towards the plateau, it took a lot less time that it should have to reach it, time just blurred together as she walked. There didn't seem to be any way to get up to the top except to climb up. Defying all laws of perception, Amy was able to see what lay on the top of the plateau despite being at the very bottom. It was an obsidian sarcophagus. On it was a likeness of Miles' face and figure. On the thing's sides were carvings of several of the Tornado's blue prints and images of Amy, Sonic and Sally in rather majestic posses and scenes along with some minor ones of Rotor, and faded ones of his biological parents. It was obvious that was her goal.

"I'll get you out of there Miles!" Amy started to climb when…

"Now just hold on!" Said a mockery of Miles' voice from high above her. A living machine creature jumped down from the sky, landing perfectly on the flat mountain.

The orange and white armored monster looked at her sadistically from its spot at the edge of the plateau, its arms crossed. "You didn't seriously think it was going to be that easy did you?"

Amy didn't call out the name of her love, she knew what this thing was. She did not scream or cower, her eyes only narrowed at the fiend. "Tempest."

"You are the girl who is so important. You are the girl who conflicts programming. You are contradictory to functions. I'm going to kill you," Tempest said coldly.

"Outta my way you fake! I'm going to save Miles if I have to go through an army of you!" Amy threatened.

The thing's features actually twisted into a sneer. "An army huh?" Said the one hundred Tempests standing on the ridge that had appeared out of nowhere. "But little girls like you should play with dolls." All but one of the Tempests was now a life-sized plush version of itself; those claws still looked sharp though.

The metal Tempest pointed a finger at her. "Play with her, then play with her liver, spleen, and small intestine."

Amy stuttered at the horde of cute death. "Y-you can't scare me! This is all just happening inside Miles' soul!"

"Which is precisely why this is going to be very lethal to you! Look out, here I come!"

The tails dolls flooded off the cliff side and down towards Amy, who did the single most intelligent thing she could at that moment, she ran.

Barely having taken seven steps, Amy realized she couldn't hear the tails dolls anymore and stopped and cautiously looked behind her. She was almost as far away from the plateau as she had been when she had arrived in Miles' soul. The army of tails dolls was gone, but the Tempest thing was still standing on top of the plateau, waiting for her.

While it should have been impossible, Amy could see Tempest's face clearly, its metal features morphed into a sneer and the Knight cheerfully waved at her.

Amy took out her hammer, if he wanted a fight he was going to get one.

Prepping herself for the hundred toy Tails to appear again, Amy charged. When she did so, the ground right in front of her caved in and became a crevice. Amy skidded to a halt before she could fall over the edge. She looked down and could see no bottom to this rift. Glancing left and right Amy saw the abyss went on forever. There seemed to be no way around, and if she fell, she'd fall forever. She could always go back...

Not in this lifetime.

Breathing in deep, Amy ran as fast as she could, using her momentum to make a flying leap over the chasm, which tried to widen as she approached. Amy panicked but landed safely on the other side, hitting the ground with a thud, which rattled her knees. She hadn't taken two steps when spikes tore right out of the ground, the knives of ice and metal sticking towards her at an angle, which was pushing her back into the waiting mouth of the chasm. But Amy kept her footing, and didn't fall in. Looking behind her, she saw the chasm was completely gone. Had it ever been there? Amy took a few steps forward around the spikes and almost walked right over the chasm's edge! Amy backed up a few feet and nearly got impaled on the spikes from behind!

Yet the plateau remained in front of her the entire time! Amy gave the spike mass a good kick on one of the cones and yelped when it all collapsed into dust, along with the chasm behind it, and she saw that the path to the plateau was clear again.

Taking a few steps forward again, the ground in random spots either morphed up into hedgehog-sized spiked cones or dipped downward into bottomless pits only to invert themselves, disappearing and reappearing with all the patterns of a musical beat.

Was the plateau even further away than it had been a moment before? Amy sucked in wind, struggled to keep from shutting her eyes, and ran across the minefield. The pits and spikes made no sound as they rose and fell, but Amy still had the giant-sized hedgehog eye and could still see them coming, well, coming close enough, she dodged one spike only to almost fall into a pit that hadn't been there a moment before.

Amy was just glad she had given up her experiments with go-go-boots in favor of her old green sneakers; she would never have been able to do this well on the ice with them. Amy tripped, she looked down to see red boots with a single long wavy dividing white strip: the black high rubber heels were back.

'No way!' Amy cursed and kicked them off, now running in her socks through the cool snow and steel underneath.

Now she did close her eyes for a brief moment, and ran smack dab into the side of the plateau. Rubbing her nose, Amy made a brief glance behind her, saw the pits and spikes gone (like she knew they'd be), and her shoes were gone as well. Rats. When she looked forward she saw the plateau right where she had left it, but now there were handholds in the side. Amy hesitantly took hold of one, certain a spike would come out of the wall to skewer her, but none did. Again with the impossible perception she possessed here Amy saw Tempest sitting calmly on top of Tails' tomb.

Amy climbed, surprised when there was no nasty surprise waiting for her on the way up, and so she wondered what nastier surprise was waiting for her when she got to the top. Taking hold of the cliff, bracing herself in case it crumbled under her touch, Amy climbed to the top of the plateau.

The plateau stood a couple miles off. She was back where she had started.

She didn't look back, knowing she wouldn't find any cliff behind her.

She was too busy screaming her head off anyway.

She openly snarled at the plateau and Tempest who still stood upon it.

"What's keeping you?" He said, the next part under his tongue. "Slow-mo."

That was the single worst dirty slur you could use on a speedless hedgehog, and Amy's brain lost all rational thought at the sounding of it. She wildly stampeded at her goal.

Amy mindlessly smashed her way through any mass of ice that cropped up in front of her as she attacked while yelling oaths. Her mallet shattered anything her eyes laid eyes upon. It was bedlam. An indefinite amount of time later, the icy mist cleared and Amy surveyed her surroundings.

She calmly regarded the broken shapes of the frozen figures. Amy noticed she had just smashed ice statues of her new and old friends, teammates and departed family. Dirty trick. But it was wasted on her, she knew these things weren't any loved ones of hers.

Only now did Amy notice she was on the top of the mesa, the flat featureless landscape going on into infinity below with the eternal black sky above. The sarcophagus was no longer in the center of the mesa, she was, the sarcophagus had moved to a middle point between her and the cliff when she wasn't looking.

Amy didn't remember climbing up. Where was Tempest?

The sarcophagus rose up, becoming vertical, like a vampire from a classic horror movie. Amy felt the quills rise on the back of her neck.

It split open down the middle like an off-key Iron Maiden. Inside was the unconscious form of Miles hung on hooked chains that pierced his bare feet, ankles, and wrists, coming out the other side. Blood went down one side of Miles' sleeping face. His head hung forward limply, but not too far because a shackle with spikes on the inside was constricting his neck, chained to the back wall of the sarcophagus. His body was covered in numerous lacerations and wounds, and his fur was matted and filthy with blood and other bodily fluids from all his suffering. A pair of nails stuck his namesakes to the inside of the torture device. The walls were lined with needles like a true iron maiden.

Amy gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth as she blinked away tears.

She took one step to rescue her Miles, and the thing slammed shut and fell over onto its back again with a thud. Amy struggled to keep her active imagination from picturing what the insides of that thing had done to poor Miles in his state.

Amy's empathy towards her love made her body shake as she imagined herself as the one suffering instead of him. She would have gladly switched places with him if she could.

Just after getting the idea to try and pry the sarcophagus open with her bare hands, thick flat-topped glassy smooth walls of reflective ice shot up out of the ground. Surrounding her on all sides in an impossibly perfect circle, the walls left her plenty of room to move around, but with no way out. But thoughts of breaking through were pushed to the side for the moment by a singular sight.

The image that looked back at her from the mirror walls was an eight year-old girl in a frilly dress, her skirt green while the puffed up sleeves were orange. Her hair stood up in a traditional hedgehog style, she touched her quills and the image did the same. Amy started, and was still surprised when she looked down and saw she was indeed eight years old again in the single dress she had taken from home when Sonic rescued her.

"Its years later and you haven't changed a bit," Tempest's voice boomed out over the landscape. "What a dizzy little ditzy girl you are, ditz!"

"Save it!" Amy called back, her voice sounded even higher than she remembered it, hammering her current situation in harder. She patted herself and found that her crossbow and hammer were both gone. Her smaller feet were starting to go numb in the cold air, through cold snow and on the cold ground. "Are you gonna fight me or not?" Amy tried to bait him, no matter how pathetic it sounded coming from an eight year-old child.

Tempest's voice was so condescending. "I don't fight little girls. Why don't you play with your stuffed toy?" Amy braced herself for another of the Tails Dolls, but instead popped into existence her stuffed plush blue and gold dragon that had been burned to ashes during Robotnik's pillage. She had named it Sonic.

Amy got ready for it to grow into a giant monster version and try to eat her, but it just lay there. She knew something horrible had to happen if she touched it, but she knew he would just make something even worse happen if she didn't play along and touch the toy. When nothing happened after a few moments, she took hold of the toy and prepared for a spike to burst through it and lance her through the heart. Nothing happened.

'He's toying with me.' Tempest wasn't going to let her win, she was never going to get anywhere near Miles if he had anything to say about it, which it pretty much appeared he did.

Amy had the sudden feeling of being an unevolved insect in a jar being shaken around until the owner got bored with her and crushed her as an afterthought. The hopelessness and unreality of things finally took their toll and Amy clutched the memory of her favorite bedtime companion and began to cry like the cub she looked like.

"Look at the cub holding her toy. Don't tell me this isn't what you want. You don't want to be an adult. You're scared of it. And not just having responsibilities. You know, every step you take towards being all grown up… is one more step towards being old!"

The world was now slightly larger. Amy knew exactly what had just happened. She was in a resized version of her childhood dress. She didn't dare look into the mirrors around her. She couldn't bear it.

Her stuffed Sonic was still in her arms, her winkled, nearly skeletal arms. Her fur was saggy and faded. Objects at a distance were just blurs. Her whole body felt heavy. Where before the cold was biting at her, now everything just felt numb. It was an effort to move anything. She felt her heart beating unsteadily inside her, like it was on a timer that was slowly winding down, her worn-out internal organs struggling to keep up to a status quo that they could no longer hope to meet. Amy felt death inside her.

"Then again, maybe it won't be so bad; after all, when you're so old, everyone else is expected to take care of you. Just like when you were a little bitty baby."

Amy was on her back; Sonic was next to her, almost bigger than her. She couldn't move her arms and legs except in spasms. Her pint-sized tail dug into the snow, her tiny body totally exposed to the elements.

She tried to say something but her vocal cords didn't have the teamwork to form words; all that came out was an incomprehensible wail. It was so cold!

"There in the freezing cold, helpless, no one to help you, no one to save you, no one to protect you, you're aallll alone."

"Don't worry Amy, I'll save you," said Sonic, just before it cried out and melted into the nothingness from whence it came.

"Nope. Sorry. Not going to happen," Tempest taunted. "The baby will die alone, and no one will find its small frozen corpse. It'll be as if the baby had never been born."

Amy couldn't cry anymore, her tears were frozen on her face, and the cold was tearing at her pint-sized lungs. Her body stopped moving as frostbite set in, and darkness beyond the darkness when ones eyes are closed in a lightless black room descended upon her.

"Tempest won. And thus in turn Riahta did as well. Tempest awoke. Murdered them all. Riahta claimed the Master Emerald, and brought death upon both realities. All because one little creature that thought it had meaning and thought it could overcome its inherent flaws fought, and lost. The End."

"Wrong!"

"Huh?" Huh? She could speak?

"It's all right Little Rose, we've got you." A pair of gentle arms picked up the baby hedgehog. She looked into the gold eyes of her rescuer. Everything was still black. But she could see herself and her savior plain as day. The eight year old gasped. "Sally?"

The hybrid shook her head kindly. "Yes and no. I have everything that makes Sally, 'Sally', but I am not her."

The teenage girl had a more important puzzle to wrap her brain around. "Where am I? Is this death?"

"No," Sally said. "Your body is still alive for now. But your connection to it was almost broken. For your mortal mind to understand this place, where we are right now is a space inside the walls that separate different souls from one another. Thus it has nothing to define it."

"But I died."

"You came very close to being tricked into thinking that you did but you are still for the moment very much alive. While we couldn't pull you back into your body, we were able to catch you 'half-life.' The parlor tricks that Tempest first put you through were meant only to build up your frustration with his obstacle course, then your anger with his insults and ice figures, then when you were near your peak, emotionally stab you in the gut with an image of Miles that would throw you off balance. This was the state he needed you to be in so he could show you your own fears through a cheap funhouse mirror to make them seem larger than they really were and you would accept them. What Tempest did to you was glorified suggestion."

"I … I knew everything that was going on was just in Miles' spirit. But when Tempest made those monster dolls, he scared me. He got me so caught up in everything the truth slipped my mind."

"Which was precisely what he wanted you to do. Like any fight a mental battle isn't won from one element alone. To sum it up, he didn't want to risk actually fighting you, so he tried to make you kill yourself."

Amy felt so played. "Dirty coward!"

"Indeed, but it isn't over yet. You can still win."

Amy whispered evenly, "How?"

"Just by remembering nothing that's going on is 'real' in the material sense, everything in a soulscape, like in its shadowed dream and mindscapes, are just perception. Things do not exist as you see them. Plus there is one more thing."

"Yes?"

"You are you, no matter what happens. You define your shape and form no matter whose mind or soul you're in. Tempest can't truly change it unless you let him, which is why he had to do his entire song and dance to render yourself helpless. He's over your projection right now about to break your connection to your body, and your soul will have nothing to bind it to this level of reality."

"I'll be dead."

'Sally' nodded, "Only if you don't stop him. We believe in you Amy, if anyone can rescue Miles, it's you. If anyone can free him from Tempest's prison, it's you. For a false self like Tempest, in a soulscape his strongest weapon is the doubt in his opponent's heart, once he no longer has that, he'll lose over half his fighting power."

Amy nodded. "This time I won't let my fears get to me, I won't give up until I rescue Miles! I promise!"

Sally surprised Amy with a motherly hug. "I know you will Little Rose, just open your heart and it'll be all right."

…

Amy saw the purple chaos emerald, before she could make out any detail, it shattered.

…

Tempest's claws in a chop pose stabbed straight down at the baby's throat, it was caught mid-strike by the eight year old Amy Rose. "Get away from me you FAKE!" Amy kicked him so hard he went flying clean over the mirrors and over the edge of the plateau before he stopped himself in the air. 'What the Hell?!' He thought.

The teenage Amy stood up, the mirrors shattering into nothingness as she did so. She was back in her red cocktail dress and sneakers. Amy calmly looked up at the mockery of a knight, her face more serious than anyone who had known her could remember it being. Tempest started for a moment, but quickly retorted, "You empty-headed ditz, you really think you can beat someone inside their own mind? I'm _God_ here!"

Amy's composure didn't weaken one iota. "You're right. You would be god here, if you were really Tails! You're just something fake put in here by that evil old man! You're not real!"

"I disagree. After you die, and Tails is gone forever, I'll be very much real."

"That's not going to happen. You're as much an outsider here as me, less than me! You're not a part of Tails and never will be! I'm more of a part of Tails than you! Any place you have here you stole! And I'm now going to take it back."

"Enough fun and games!" Tempest became a hurricane of spinning death flying at the girl to dismember and decapitate her in an eye blink and be done with her. "Die!" He declared.

"You first!" Amy retorted, and Tempest was pushed back a second time by a powerful force that knocked his head into the plateau followed in the resulting bounce by the living nuts and bolts that connected his blade tails to his rear. Landing on the edge of the mesa, shaking his head to get rid of the ringing in his ears, the Knight looked up…and refused to believe what he saw.

An amazingly beautiful fully grown woman hedgehog, her fur a reflective pale, almost white, blue, her quills going down her back to her hips without her hair brace. She was barefoot and barehanded, with silver bracelet rings that matched her stunning two-piece red dress. Her eyes were a frightening violet, and Tempest shuddered as he felt them look right through him into the emptiness in his heart.

Tempest's eyes completely bugged out of his head. "Y-you can't do that!!!"

Aurora Amy had no tolerance left for him. "I'll do whatever I want, Fake!"

"You think this will scare me!" Tempest's eyes gems glowed as he rose off the ground.

"No…and there's nothing left you can do to scare me. You lose."

"The only one it's game over for is you!" Every last one of Tempest's eye gems fired their red beam with an intensity they never had before. They slashed through the air in a crisscross pattern that cut Aurora Amy to pieces, if she was dumb enough to just stand still and let him hit her. Amy's afterimage was impaled from every angle, but the real Amy had already moved positions and sped around the mock knight, coming up from behind him and knocking him off the ground. Tempest turned to behead her with his tail blades but Amy caught them, one in each hand and tossed him through the edge of the mesa, sending him towards the ground below, but Tempest recovered before hitting the ground and charged back up at full speed, sending his face right into Amy's fist.

"I won't lose to a little slow-mo empty-headed loudmouth ditzy brat!" Tempest swore to goad Amy into getting angry enough to attack recklessly. Tempest was confused beyond the ability of his programming when Amy made no verbal or facial reaction to his insults at all.

Tempest landed on the edge of the mesa, Amy doing the same on the opposite side. The two charged at the same time, Tempest ready to flip over to impale her with his blade tails instead of meeting with one punch each like she clearly intended.

Amy threw her suddenly present hammer at Tempest's head before he could do so. The monster grunted as he was knocked off-kilter by the impact as the hammer flew back into the charging Amy's hand like a boomerang and vanished again.

"That's not in the script!" Tempest cried as he skidded on the ice and machines underneath.

To this Amy did have a response. "We all make our own scripts," she said just before a wheel kick rammed into Tempest's throat, which would have killed him if he was a true living being, instead he was just knocked flat into the ground creating a plume of white snow. Taking instant advantage of the momentary cover, Tempest fired his lasers right at where Amy had been, then switched to firing them completely randomly around him, he heard a grunt of pain as one of his completely random blasts struck Aurora Amy in the backside, knocking her down and momentarily sending her face into the snow and steel.

Tempest took advantage of the moment of weakness to its fullest. Actually getting creative without Tails to get in the way Tempest created a wave of razor sharp winds that, while not cutting her into pieces like he had planned them to, did knock her further back, this time right at the edge of the mesa. Using all of his speed Tempest made a swift jump and smashed one of his feet talons into the backside of Amy's head, sending her down to the ground below.

Tempest changed the landscape completely into an infinite field of spikes sharp enough to split a hair. They crumbled into dust before Amy even touched them. Huh? When she hit the ground he took away the ground, making the plateau the only object in the universe. The ground came back before Amy had dropped a millimeter. All right, cut, he'd like a rewrite of the episode now.

"You really aren't part of Miles," Amy said, her voice and tone that of a grown woman as well. "He always learns from his mistakes, and knows when not to try the same trick twice. Fake."

Tempest couldn't believe this brat in an adult's body was talking down to him! Him! How dare she!

"You'll never die!" Tempest swore. "I'll keep your soul inside me as a plaything to torture whenever I have nothing _else_ to entertain me! I promise you!"

"Another proof," Amy said practically. "Miles has never once made a promise he couldn't keep."

"Shut up, shut up, shutupSHUTUP!" Tempest's beams merged into one giant red shaft of death shooting right at the hedgehog. The rage-empowered attack made contact, and Amy was sent flying into the air from the impact as steel, ice, and frozen flesh of the stolen Halloween props from below was flung upwards.

Tempest sped behind her before she could recover and smashed into her with both feet as she was sent to the ground again and Tempest used the raging combined attack again and fired at her, hitting her once more. Tempest breathed in and out, drinking in the outlet for his anger.

Amy breathed out, still in her adult and chaos form as she got back to her feet, the backside of her dress ruined and her fur disheveled and slightly blackened. "That's point number three that you're not in any way Miles."

"Will you shut up about that and die!" Combined rage beam again, this time Amy was able to dodge it just in time, feeling the heat alongside her body as she did so.

"Miles spent forever trying to make me see that the power of anger is only skin-deep at best. That rage is a short term high and that the strength it gives you is as empty as you are." If Tempest had used his blades instead of his claws when knocking her ground ward, he would have done much more damage. But Amy wasn't dumb enough as to give her enemy pointers in a life and death battle.

Tempest tried his previously most useful move again. "Just like you not to take to a lesson."

"Yes, and you took advantage of that," Amy replied maturely.

"And you can't learn!" A huge hand of ice rose of the ground behind her with a solid black stone 'dunce' cone that slammed into the ground she was standing, crushing her.

"THE END!" Tempest hissed.

Aurora Amy walked out of the stone like it was just a hologram, not a mark on her. "No. We have plenty of adventures left to tell yet." The hand and cone popped out of existence.

"This is stupid!" Tempest created the same plush dragon like Amy had once before and tossed it at her. It turned into a life-sized one made of blue flames, before it touched a quill on Amy's head however; it turned around and flew right at Tempest, exploding on impact, melting piece of his armor and shattering his chest's eye gem. "H-How? How are you doing this!" he screamed.

Amy knew the damage she'd cause just with these words alone. "Bunnie Rabbot realized the truth. Accept what you are. Then rise above it!!"

"No! We are only what we are!" If there was one thing more painful than a lie, it was truth the Knight had just been faced with. "You're nothing but a bratty baby girl pretending at being grown up! A small, little, useless brat who thinks she can be anything even remotely like an adult!"

Tempest was still surprised when Amy's age didn't change in the slightest. "To note: I loved being a child, I love being a teen, and I'll love being an adult too."

Tempest went for his trump card! "And a hag! An old old old hag!"

Amy was unbothered. "When I'm that old…I know my friends and family will still love me. I see that now. I was just too vain to see it. And that's what really matters. Ever since I met Miles, I stopped living in my fantasies, and started living for them."

An Order Knight version of Aurora Amy rose from the ground and charged at her throat. "Andthoseflawswillcomebackandtearyour-" it broke apart into snow the moment it touched the real Amy, stopping Tempest's mouth.

"It's useless. You want to fight me…do it with your own two hands. You're going to have to do what Tails has done his whole life, work for what he wants!"

"Work for?! I'll just take it!" With every claw, talon, and blade pointed right at Amy, the mock knight flew screaming towards her.

Tempest's slashes came as afterimages, but so did Amy's movements, but this was not the real world, bound by the rigid laws of science, but by the rules of the mind's eye.

Cuts came at Amy's skin, but armor shattered on Tempest's body as well, revealing not bloody flesh, but empty armor. Tempest truly was hollow. Without Miles to hold onto, he was just a costume.

Amy willed her crossbow into existence, and the bolts fired were like shooting stars, not exploding on impact, but carrying the mock knight flying across the spiritual landscape. The monster twisted off the first one, just in time to be hit by another one, which he again had to force his empty body off of. He saw the next batch coming easily enough, and dodged many and cleaved a few in half. In a break in the barrage he checked out the damage to his body. There was no way the brat could have done all this. This had to be some kind of mistake! Across his arms and legs were dents and cracks, two of the claws on his right hand were missing and one of his left talons had been broken off! But this was not the real showstopper. No, that was his trunk. His solar plexus was totally gone, just jagged pieces of armor remained to outline where it had been. You couldn't see the backside of his armor through the gap; there was nothing but a black emptiness.

He was hardly beaten yet though! He still had three perfectly good eye gems, so what if his center one was gone? His tail blades were as sharp and functional as ever! And there was still no way that little creature could hope to match him in speed! He was Tempest! Order Knight! Bio-weapon! Agent of the Dark Walkers. Her body would die at his hands and her spirit would suffer forever by his claws!

"You can't beat me! No matter what you do! No matter what you try! I will crush you! Your battle is a hopeless one!"

"Even if you were right," Aurora Amy said calmly, their voices traveling without flaw across the vast distance that now separated them. "That's not the real point of all this."

"What do you mean that isn't the point?! We're two fighters, well, one fighter and a child who thinks she can fight, and we shall go at it until one is helpless at the others talons, of course meaning you at my non-existent mercy! All for the right of whom this body belongs to!"

"Half right," Amy said. It really was over now. "This fight is over the true owner of his vessel, but I have no more of a claim on this vessel than you do, and if I destroyed you myself, what would be the point? This isn't all about you. This has never been about you or me. This is about him, and only him." She looked at the plateau and saw the prison that held her love. "And back to the original point, I don't _need_ to beat you. I never did. I was just so caught up in thinking this was like the movies when you were playing me to notice. Now…you're far enough away, and I'm close enough to do what the real point of all this is."

Tempest felt panic wash over him like a tidal wave as his enemy's intent was laid to bear in front of his eyes. "No!" In a last desperate race, he flew with all possible speed at her, hoping beyond hope to stop her before she did the unthinkable. But it was like the air around him had suddenly become molasses, and in spite of every frantic mental command he snarled at it, it remained so, bringing his motions to a crawl.

"Miles! I understand!" Amy shouted, jumping over a hundred feet into the air and rising high above the plateau and its prisoner. "I am _in_ love with you! When this is all over you can teach me about your beautiful Biplane! You can fly me or carry me across the sky with a view no one but the dragons have seen! I'll reach to the heavens with you!" She began to descend with the force of a meteor. "We'll find who's waiting for you above the clouds together! I'll be with you every step of the way! Now wake up already, Sally's worried sick about you!"

Amy brought her hammer down, hitting the sarcophagus with the force of a meteorite shaking the world to its foundations! Pouring everything she had, everything she was, into the blow, her love, her experiences, what bound her to Miles' heart. Amy's hammer shattered, her body was knocked back from the impact, landing on the snow-covered ground beyond the plateau. Her quill and eye color diffused back to their original shades and in a moment there was nothing except regular teenager Amy Rose.

Amy looked at the coffin, looking exactly as it had a moment before. Her face had no expression beyond intense pure observation.

The molasses air was gone, and Tempest landed squarely on the stone coffin in the flash of a nanosecond.

"Your resurrection failed! Miles Prower doesn't want to come back to life!" Amy said nothing, keeping a straight face in the face of doom.

Tempest darkly opened up his palms and his eye gems began to glow. "But don't worry, you'll met again in the pits of the damned!" The entire world shook abruptly, throwing the Order Knight off-kilter. "Huh?" Amy smirked just like Sonic the Hedgehog. That was when the first cracks in the sarcophagus appeared, a blinding white light forcing its way out. Tempest slowly, far too slowly, floated up and away from the inevitable. "But…but how?" Tempest didn't understand, wasn't able to understand, how could that little creature have done this? This was impossible!

The cracks became larger and larger. The sarcophagus shook like a leaf, trying hopelessly to contain the powerful immortal spirit within it. Tempest at a loss for words, and Amy with no need for them looked on as the sarcophagus literally gave up the ghost and shattered. The black pieces flew everywhere before breaking apart into smaller chunks, and those pieces themselves into nothingness, the land echoing with a young cry of absolute will.

Tempest brought up his hands to try and block the shockwave, but it was no use, he had no power here anymore, not that he ever did. The shock wave hit him, obscuring him in blinding white light, and his empty form shattered, the bits of orange and white armor, the eye gems, the tail blades, all of them, broke apart, blown away, turning into calm white clouds before dissolving completely into the nothing from which the monster had been born from.

A figure stood up, flinging the snow, ice, and steel away. A cute, rather short, two tailed kitsune, with bright orange fur and the nicest pair of blue eyes you could have ever hoped to meet.

Amy made the largest open-mouthed smile she could manage as she let it all out. In the blink of an eye, the world changed. The black sky was now a beautiful blue with sunsets in one corner of the sky, and stars and the twin moons at the top. The sea of steel and snow became an endless carpet of cloud cover, the rolling cloud shifting this way and that into patterns too beautiful to behold anywhere else but within the mind's eye. The plateau itself changed as well. It was no longer steel or ice, but orange stone with green moss and impossible geometric flowers dotted across its surface. And out of the clouds came four Flickie birds, each of them a different color of the rainbow.

Amy realized she was sitting on clouds. She didn't fall, she just stood up, tears in her eyes as she looked at the love of her life. "Miles… Tails." She giggled.

He smiled sheepishly at her and waved. "Hi Amy! I'm back!"

"I knew you would be!" Amy cried happily, the tears of joy going down her face.

Tails grinned. "Hey! I promised didn't I?"

Amy made another small laugh. "Yes… you did."

She floated up to his level, and he floated up to meet her. No shoes or gloves were on either of their extremities. Amy looked down and saw her dress had vanished, exposing her pink fur and delicately developing female shape to the sky. She felt welcomed rather than bait and switched. She floated closer to Tails, and he began to float closer to her as the four birds flew in a circle above them. "Tails?"

"Don't spoil it," he whispered. "We won't have this chance again…not until both of us are dead for real."

Four true angel wings made from different angles of light instead of bird feathers like shown in cartoons sprouted cleanly from Tails' back, growing as long as he was tall.

Amy made a short gasp as similar wings came from her back. The two angels moved closer and closer. Their wings bent and slowly connected with each other. The two angels embraced, feeling their immortal souls wash into each other, fearing nothing, only knowing this was were they truly belonged.

All then turned a brilliant white…

...

Sally grinned, crossing her arms. "We see. Truly we do. So that's it in its purest form."

"Sally girl?" Bunnie asked in confusion.

"I _have_ to try that with Sonic…" Sally struggled to keep from bursting out in laughter while her friends stared at her blankly, wondering if the stress of the situation and whatever pressure that magical sword exerted on her had caused the hybrid to finally snap.

"Huh?" said a confused Knuckles.

Sally smirked. "Never mind. I suggest we all step back, Miles is about to wake up."

"How do you know that?" said a skeptical Bunnie.

Spectre whacked her on the head. "She's the one carrying the mystical sword, of course she knows!"

Tempest's limb body floated up, breaking the restraints holding him to the table, causing alarm from the gathered few in the room (the rest out keeping watch to make sure none of Riahta's other puppets snuck in). Then before their eyes, the armor skin began to crack. There wasn't a single drop of blood as the body twisted, the cracks connecting with new and old ones, until as one piece it blew to smithereens, the pieces of metal disintegrating before they touched the ground. Instead of bloody flesh, bright orange and white fur greeted them from underneath the broken shell, and a new pair of tails to replace the violated ones. The kit floated back down softly onto the bed.

Tails' body was whole. The marks of Riahta's taint were no more, the boy was free.

Bunnie sat in amazement. "Wha', how, is, can it, really be?"

Sally knew. "Amy did it."

"This could be a trick!" Hawking warned.

"No Guardian, it is not. Miles is finally home."

Tails slowly opened his eyes and painstakingly turned his head to face the group. After some effort his mouth opened. "Aunt Sally . . . I'm sorry." Tears fell down the kitsune's face. A tear fell down Sally's cheek too, but for a very different reason. She never thought she would be so happy to hear Miles call her that nickname. She found herself doing an imitation of one of Amy's death grip hugs. She promptly eased her grip, realizing Miles felt as fragile as a glass doll in her arms.

"It's okay, I'm here Miles, no one blames you," she said, holding Tails to her, truly feeling her part as his mother. "Everything is going to be all right now." 'Don't worry Tails; nothing bad is going to happen to you anymore.' Not if Sally had anything to say about it.

At her statement, Tails looked at her with that idle curiosity and slight confusion she remembered so fondly. "Aunt Sally…why are your eyes the wrong color?"

Sally laughed through her tears. "I guess I was just due for a change." She kept hugging him.

"Aunt Sally, I love you," Tails said in a meek voice.

Those words had never sounded so sweet from anyone except Sonic. While Sally had only waited three days at the most to hear her child say those words again, for her it was a message of a lifetime. "I love you too my little Miles, I love you too."

"Aunt Sally!" Tails blushed, hating it when she called him by his real name in public. This only made Sally smile more, because it reassured even more that her lad had truly returned to her.

Spectre kept Knuckles' trap shut, no one else, not even Bunnie, said a word, this was not their world. A world meant for just the two of them and only one other to make three? Well, maybe one more…

Amy blinked her eyes and sat up and was greeted by the sight of Tails and Sally hugging. Amy's heart soared. "So it wasn't just a dream."

"Amy!" Tails cheered.

"Miles--Tails!" Amy nearly stumbled on the floor trying to get out of the super simplistic bed to reach the fox.

The lass looked around, realizing they weren't at the Hidden Palace front entrance anymore. "Where am I?"

"In what amounts to Hidden Palace's clinic. The Guardians hated the idea of getting Miles, Tails, any closer to the Master Emerald, until I pointed out it was relatively safer than having you two out in the open where Riahta could make another grab for him, since the monster seemed to want Tails back so bad. Then Hawking said that was probably what Riahta wanted us to do from the start, until I pointed out that Tails was no longer in any shape to fight any of us, then Hawking said Tails likely had a super auto repair system that would restore him to perfect health once he was close enough to the Master Emerald. I stopped listening at that point."

"Lousy whippersnappers, never listening to what their elders have to say…kids these days!" Hawking grumbled, causing all to roll their eyes.

"Ya all scared us." Bunnie narrated to Amy. "For a few sec's yer heart stopped beatin'. But then it came back stronger than ever."

Amy took hold of the sides of her head in both hands. The entire trip after seeing the purple emerald shatter was all a blur, she remembered this great feeling of understanding, and a lot of the baggage she had been secretly carrying around for a while now didn't feel so important anymore…but at the same time it was all like a dream, a nightmare she had taken by the reins and turned into a happy ending…with help from those who loved her.

The princess addressed the lass. "You did good Amy. I'm proud of you."

Once upon a time, Amy detested this woman for having what Amy could never have. Now, Amy felt honored to hear any praise at all coming from Sally." Thank you."

Three down, one or two to go.

Good points? Bad points? What could have improved it? Off handed comments, rants, raves, flames, constructive words of praise, all welcome to hear from all of you.


	13. Dark Dragon Sees The Light

Tails was glade he had been able to fulfill his promise to Amy. After Sabre finished checking Tails over to make sure the kitsune was in perfect health and using a combination of medical tech and chaos magic to reconnect Amy's left ear, Amy declined the offer to have the scars removed.

Sabre commented."Too bad you couldn't use Nicole to just hack into the lad's brain and get the evil out of him that way, not that it would have been as exciting of course, but less hazardous,"

Sally shook her head. "Nicole's programming isn't designed to deal with the spiritual, it would have burned out her circuits."

"Yes, I never was able to cram that into her." Sabre said totally on purpose.

Sally stared openmouthed at him. "_You_ created Nicole?!"

This was a surprise to the rest of the ladies and young gentlemen as well.

The Guardians glared at Athair's son for daring to reveal another 'secret' and inconsequential plot point.

Sabre continued, ignoring the glares from his relatives. "Remember about my son and your dad being buddies way back when? He wanted a gift for his daughter, and I figured I could sneak you something that you could find very useful later on."

"Your father told you to?"

"He said something about if he tried to do more that it would backfire. Since trying to screw prophecy is exactly like using time travel to change history. Everything has a cause and effect, and if you try to shake things up to go your way, it'll blow up in your face every time. You can't change the storm's path but you can ride through it."

Sally had to admit; Nicole had gotten her out of more than a few jams, and had been vital with screwing into Robotnik's computer networks. Having gotten the machine at an early age, she had never questioned it, only accepted it.

Sally cared a lot less than she thought she would, Nicole's origin and place in Athair's visions paled in comparison to having Tails back in her arms.

Tails looked at his bare hands and feet and blushed. "I'm naked."

"Sabre?" Sally asked.

He shrugged. "Sorry, we're not a clothing store."

"Don't worry, this crazy old man is always prepared." Everyone in the room started, even without being able to teleport in this cavern, the old man was still able to give off a surprise entrance. In his free hand was a pair of familiar looking shoes and gloves. "Don't worry Two-Tails." Athair grinned. "The 'stupid dumb looking statues' are still looking out for you."

Once Tails had gone on what could be thought of as a Walkabout after he had a short falling out with Sonic for reasons that didn't matter now. During this attempt at self-discovery, the fox had met Athair at the site where Angel Islandwas once still part of the ground.

Tails remembered when Athair had shown Tails life-sized figures in the likeness of the Ancient Walkers and told Tails about the fox's part in one of the old man's prophecies. Tails told Athair off and then told him what he thought of his 'stupid dumb looking statues' just before the 'stupid dumb looking statues' all grabbed the tyke! The next thing Tails knew he was possessed, speaking the story of creation as those who had witnessed it had seen it. After the Ancient Walkers had departed from Tails' spirit, the fox realized just how 'sweet loving mother of mobius!' real the Ancient Walker were. Athair, of course, couldn't resist sniggering at Tails' realization about the 'stupid dumb looking Statues,' and had yet to let the kitsune live it down. Case in point.

Sally raised an eyebrow. "Where did you get those?"

"Oh… I broke and entered into Two-Tails and the girl's place of living without permission and picked up a couple of things that I heard that he'd be needing in a bit."

The sage tossed the items onto the bland bedspread, and Sally reluctantly let go of Tails as the fox put them on.

Knuckles tried to stab at his annoying ancestor. "Took you long enough to help."

Athair sighed in exasperation. "Can we please not start that again? The one best suited for the job went in and did what she had to. I call that a success."

However, Sally had her own ax to grind with this echidna. "Why didn't you try to help us when Riahta sent Tails to die, or when he sent the others to take him back, or when Amy risked using the sword to dive into Tails' soul? It seems to me like you just want to sit back and give profound speeches after all the fighting's done."

Athair counted off his responses to her points on his fingers. "One, I don't pretend that I'm still a fighter. Two, I had to walk back here remember? Three, the lass means worlds more to Two-Tails than I ever will, and had several times the chances to get him out of his shell than I could ever hope for."

Sally looked at Athair and was surprised to see an expression of relief that was not that much different than her own. The old man was as happy to see the kit was all right as the rest of them.

"And Two-Tails… I am glad both you, and you, Miss Rose, emerged from your internal ordeal whole. But be forewarned that your external ordeal is not yet over."

Leave it to Knuckles to critique his ancestor. "Can't you say anything completely cheerful?"

"I could, but words just spoil the mood in those times. In happy times, feelings are the most important thing."

Amy felt a ghost of a memory and said, "He's right."

Tails smiled as he finished lacing his shoes up. "Aunt Sally…it's all right. I'm only happy that I, it, wasn't able to hurt…to kill any of you."

Sally shook her head. "It wasn't you Tails, it never was. You're not responsible for any of what Tempest did. You're free, alive, and back with us, that's all that matters."

Tails blushed. "Thank you."

Hershey polished her gun. "So now that Prower is back with us, that leaves the enemy with nine, not counting Riahta. At least the odds will be a bit more in our favor next time."

"Anyone else yet notice tha Knight are less able fightas with every fight?" Bunnie asked.

Everyone else absorbed this piece of information.

Sally frowned. "You're right, I hadn't thought about that. First it took Knuckles in his chaos form to fight them after they subjected all of Knothole. At Echidnaopolis a bunch of flesh and blood fighters like us slowed them down to a crawl. Then on the surface, they couldn't even kill one of us. Then there was … Tails and the other Knights coming back for him."

"Those fights seemed hard enough to me," Amy said.

"They were. But given how much sheer power they showed at the beginning, it doesn't add up. It's like their batteries are slowly getting worn down."

"Then maybe we all need to do is outlast them," said Hershey. "And let nature take its course."

"I would advice against that," interrupted Athair. "That is of course if you wish to get back Sonikku, Julie-Su, Wombat Stu, or any of the others as anything other than corpses. Riahta will wear them out until they break, regardless of their odds, not caring if they die. He'll make Sonikku and the others fight to death."

"How would you know that?" Knuckles asked.

Athair affectionately hit him on the head. "Because Riahta is my evil alternate reality twin remember? While the Master Emerald's power would be a cataclysm in Riahta's claws, in it's own way, the deaths of Sonikku, Julie-Su, and the others would be just as grand a disaster, though a subtler one. Think of destiny as a guideline or as slavery, the fact remains everyone has a job to do in this life. And Riahta stepping in has royally screwed up a lot of lives. I trust no one will debate me on this point? Good. If you wish to save those dear to you, you have to take the fight to Riahta and his pawns."

Tails looked his other half in the eye. "You saved me, now it's my turn to save Sonic."

Athair shook his head sadly. "I wish it wasn't you who had to save him Two-Tails."

"Huh?"

"You are the Chosen One Two-Tails, your immature end would lead to death on far too grand a scale. If you cannot wake up Sonikku inside Lightspeed, he will kill you."

"Sonic would never do that and isn't telling me disrupting the flow of events too?" Admittedly, Tails' head had swelled after defeating Mongul, but thankfully Tails was too much of the shy type for it to stick.

Athair scratched his nose. "I figured telling you was better than you stuck wondering about a senile old man stalking you and looking out for your welfare for no good reason. And as lovely as being with mother again is, I think it's the wisest course of action for me to make myself scarce before the fighting starts. And since this Palace prevents teleportations, I had better start walking these aged legs." With that, he left as abruptly as he came.

"There he goes again," Sabre commented, reminding everyone that some of the Brotherhood was still in the room. "Always stays just to say a few words then off he goes."

A few of those words, however, interested Sally very much so. She didn't trust the Brotherhood to give her a straight answer, including Knuckles, and she knew what their reaction would be to her plan, but she could tell Athair would give her a true answer. She kissed Tails on the forehead, told the others she'd be back shortly, and went after the elderly echidna. She was out of the ward and in the ever-revising hallways of Hidden Palace in the blink of an eye. She was not surprised as she would have been before her spiritual union when it took her a minute to catch up with the old man when he had left mere seconds before her. "Athair."

"I believe this is the first time you've ever addressed me by name, Princess Sally." Not Miss Acorn.

"I have an idea, but it's an easy guess what the Guardians would say. I want your answer instead."

Athair nodded. "I sensed as much. I didn't know the question, only that it was best asked away from my family. Ask away."

Sally didn't waste time. "Maybe each of us could try to use the Master Emerald to transform into super mobians like the trio can. We could come at the Order Knights with enough power to kill Riahta and knock all of them back to their senses and be back home in time for tea." -After all. Metal Sonic did it.-

Athair looked surprised and waved both his hands and made several 'x' marks with his arms. "Oh no! Bad idea! Don't go there! Trust me you don't want to! If you do, it'll be the last mistake you make! Other people have tried it and you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy."

"What do you mean?" Sonic, Knuckles and Tails hadn't suffered any long term side effects as far as Sally knew. The worst thing that had ever come about was the change in Sonic's eye color.

"Many before Sonikku, Two-Tails, and my great grandson tried to use the emeralds to temporally ascend themselves to godling status and failed miserably. If you recall both Sonic and Knuckles' use of the emeralds for the first time was a last resort when they fought an opponent they could not have defeated otherwise. The Guardians were stunned silent by each of their successful transformations let me tell you."

Sally was silent for some time. "What happened to those you mentioned, those who tried to use the emeralds before Sonic, Knuckles and Miles?"

Athair grimaced. "Forgive me for such dark humor, but to make a long story short they are still cleaning the stains off the Emerald Chamber walls. Also there were those who ended up unevolved animals, either in mind, body or both. There were a couple who changed species, age and gender, all in different combinations. Not counting this one lass who ended up genderless…this is called the CHAOS force after all. And not one of them was able to transform the right way for even a nano-second. Then of course there was Dimitri, whose absorption of the emerald's power was accidental, turning him into the mad echidna Enerjak for several hundred years."

Sally realized at once what this meant, that any one of them besides Tails or Knuckles that tried to use the Chaos Emeralds would be more than likely warped by the chaos force as it tore through their bodies. But far more important for Sally, it meant that when Sonic had used those emeralds, he should have died, same with Knuckles.

"I know what you are thinking Princess Acorn, but neither Sonic nor Knuckles were in any danger. Knuckles never was one for studying history. And they didn't go around asking people how 'safe' it was, their first times were spur of the moment. Not that they knew there was any danger to begin with, for them, they and Two-Tails are the ones whose hearts can bring control to the chaos just as well as the Master Emerald can."

Sally had just one thing to say to that. "No, they weren't all spur of the moment. YOU exposed Miles to the emeralds for the first time, with the knowledge it could kill him!"

Athair frowned. "He is the chosen one Princess, I knew he would be able to control the Chaos Energy with no danger to his life."

"You know nothing!" Sally retorted.

For the first time in many a year Athair's face showed anger. "I know more then you could ever dream of Mobian, and that knowledge I possess rips me apart each day!" Athair took a moment to control himself. "Forgive me princess, when you live life as long as I have opposed to just going through it, you pick up more than a few frustrations. And all of this aside, you forgot that the chaos emeralds are scattered all over the world following their last return to the Special Zone. Even with your new toy and my palor tricks it would take days to find them all."

"There's always the Master Emerald." Sally twirled the hilt of the sword of Acorns in her fingers like a baton. "And it wouldn't be the first time this sword was used a medium to transfer Chaos power, Mongul did it when he stole Enerjak's power."

"Princess ... to suck up that much power, to hold a transformation for any practical length of time, the Master Emerald's power would flicker, making the island tip on its side. Which would not only ruin everyone's good china, it would also throw more than a few innocent people off the island to die. And then there's the buildings that would all fall down with gravity going at them the wrong way."

Sally's face fell. "So you're saying what I thought of was useless."

"It was a good plan. But it can't be implemented in the time frame you, we, have. The trio each have their own reasons for being able to ascend using chaos without any formal training. It would take a lifetime for your teammates to learn how to do it, and even in your new state, it would take you years."

"What about the Guardians?"

He shook his head. "Locke's tampering with Knuckles while still in the egg did some good, I'll just say that. There is one more thing Princess Sally," Athair pointed out.

"Yes?"

"I would never, in a thousand years, purposefully force Two-Tails into any situation where there was a chance of him dying. He wanted to fight alongside Sonic to save him from Mongul. He would have gone with or without the power of the emeralds, regardless of what chance he might have had without them, and so he proved he was worthy of using them. I knew from the start Two-Tails could use the emeralds without fear of harm to himself, but by showing his courage, just like my great-grandson and Sonic he showed he wouldn't turn into a second Enerjak. I would never harm that boy."

"And if your prophecy or masters said so?"

Athair smirked. "Then I would know I had read the prophecy wrong and that I had misheard my masters. One must know whom they serve. Now I foresee this is where our discussion is at its end, and we both have someone else to speak to right now." Athair turned a corner and Sally knew better than to look around only to see an empty hallway.

Sally stood there for a few seconds before smiling and speaking kindly. "You can come out Amy, We've known you've been there since I followed Athair."

Amy came out from around her corner to face Sally's backside. "How?"

Sally calmly turned and faced the lass. "We could feel your curiosity and concern a mile away. And besides, what being wouldn't feel a part of themselves?"

Amy nodded only slightly as she blinked the green eyes she had been born with. Amy glanced at the electrum sword for only a moment before looking Sally in the face. "That's part of what I want to talk about, Sally," Amy admitted, wondering how deep into her soul Sally could see. "When I was one with the Sword, I saw the part of you that was still there. You do love Maurice, while I love Sonic, and that gives you more right to him than I've ever had."

Sally stood impressed, but not surprised. She placed a hand on Amy's shoulder. "And we both love Miles, but in different ways, and you're the one who's going to be with him after I'm gone, my Little Rose." Amy started, while Sally just peacefully smiled. Amy, for the life of her, for once didn't mind being called 'little.' "Amy, I saw into your heart too. And I know that with Sonic you saw a fairy tale prince. With Miles, you see Miles, all of his virtues and shortcomings, and you love them both. I know you're the one for him."

This time it was Amy who hugged Sally. "Thank you…Aunt Sally."

Sally felt her heart become a bit lighter and laughed. "Now don't you start!"

Hershey came straight into the hallway, having run like a cheetah from their fellows' resting place. It was rather like the palace had led Hershey right to them. "Princess, Rose, there's-." She looked at the scene and sweat dropped. "The yuri girls back home are never going to believe this."

Sally had no time for headaches. "Ever heard of maternal love?! What is it?"

Hershey bowed slightly and said, "Prower says he just remembered something very important, he doesn't want to repeat it and wants all of us to hear it together!"

Amy and Sally looked at each other, nodded, and followed Hershey back to the resting place of their team mates, no one cared that the route they took back wasn't the one any of them had taken on the way out.

…

Stepping in, they saw that the Brotherhood had left (Again. They had more important things to do than watch a mutant fox, the Master Emerald was in danger after all.) and that Tails looked frantic. He was relieved when the ladies returned. Tails' need to tell this secret to Sally had conjured up horrible scenarios of something awful happening to her before he had a chance to tell her or Amy the truth. And of course, what he had to tell Hershey.

Maybe he should have just told everyone in the room the moment he remembered, but Sally, Amy, and yes Hershey, all had the right to know first. While this normally wasn't Tails' style to hold back on something he knew, the overwhelming need to tell 'Aunt Sally' overrode all. Seeing Sally and company come in safe and sound, Tails already hopped off the simplistic bed he was standing on. Sally opened her mouth to scold him for such reckless actions when he should have been recovering, but she didn't get a chance, Tails' words managed to surprise and hold everyone. He blurted his secret out, afraid now that Sally was here that he was going to forget again and no one would ever know.

"Riahta did it! Everyone! You all have to know this! Riahta did it all! I didn't remember right away but I do now! Riahta didn't just take advantage of what St. John did! He _caused_ what St. John did! Ever since we left Robotropolis this has been all his doing! He used Geoffrey like a puppet! He's the one that sent me, Sonic, Stu, all of us to our 'deaths!' He was waiting for us! Like a con man who poisons your drinking water then sells you a miracle cure! He played us, all of us!"

"I knew my Jeffery wasn't a murderer!" Hearshy snarled, every last negative emotion she had been nurturing towards Riahta's pawns now directed solely at the puppet master himself. It wasn't truly hers or Geoffrey's fault. 'I'll kill the jackass.'

"Oh mah stars," Bunnie gasped.

"Tails!" Amy's ears wilted.

Tails wasn't done. "That's not all! He played the King from the other side too! He wanted to make sure Aunt Sally wasn't there for Sonic! Or me! You see? Geoffrey, the King, me, Sonic, the rest of Geoffrey's unit, we've all been used! That's the real reason he had Sonic murder Geoffrey, and tried to have us find the King! He knew that sooner or later they'd wake up and realize what they had done hadn't been their own actions! Riahta didn't want us finding out the truth, any of us, ever!"

Knuckles would have been angry, if he hadn't already decided to shatter every bone in the wraiths' body for what the monster had done to Julie. "Dad…" Sally whispered. Sally wondered now just how far Riahta had played things. Could he have been the one who let Robotnik create the ambush that jumped Geoffrey's group when they arrived in Robotropolis? Could he have manipulated Robotnik into creating the hole in his defenses in the first place? A memory surfaced from lifetimes before: 'The greatest trick the devil played, was making everyone believe he didn't exist.' Sally would add, 'making everyone believe the devil does nothing,' to that list too.

"Congratulations, you managed to put all together ten whole minutes before I did." Athair, again.

"Will, you, stop, that?!" Knuckles snapped in exasperation. This was getting mind-numbingly repetitive. "Leave or stay! Don't walk out, walk in, tralala! No one's impressed by your sudden entrances anymore so quit it!"

Athair made little defense. "I realized something important you'd like to know, and came back to tell you it. I'm just glad to see I don't need to hold your hands in everything. Like how I had to pull your strings just to make sure you'd unlock your hidden power when saving the princess from the brain washed robo-zombies."

"I thought I was at the bottom of your priority list," said a confused Sally, remembering what Knuckles had said about Athair declaring Sally's life to be of no consequence.

Athair chortled and patted Knuckles on the head affectionately. "What I saw was just _one_ future. My delightfully dense great-grandson is such a contradictive hot head that if I had asked him nicely to find the power within to save his never-girlfriend he would never had done it! By me saying you were a low priority, you became a top priority with him. Reverse psychology works on him every time."

"That's not true!" Knuckles retorted.

"Knuckles, please give me some of your grapes." Athair pointed to the grapes Knuckles had had this entire time but there had been no reason to mention them before and weren't there just so Athair could prove a point.

"No way!"

"I bet you can't live without them for five minutes," Athair crooned knowingly.

"Oh really?! I'll prove it, here!" Knuckles gave all of his grapes to Athair, and then blinked stupidly. "What just happened?"

"Thanks my boy, I just wanted _some,_ heh heh!" Athair chuckled, downing all of Knuckles' grapes in one gulp.

Knuckles pouted and crossed his arms miserably. "That still doesn't prove a thing!"

Athair wrote something behind his back. (Where did he get the pencil and paper?) "Knuckles, please be more nasty to the pink hedgehog girl."

"No way! No how! You're not tricking me again! I'm beating you to the punch! Amy! I apologize for repeatedly calling you a child. Ha! Got you gramps! You wanted me to be more of a jerk to her, well sucks to be you!"

Athair showed the only thing he had written behind his back:

-Knuckes will be nicer to Amy after this sentence.-

"Aghhh!" Knuckles screamed, and made several other animal noises along with body motions that could have been to ask Chaos for rain, or perhaps fertility upon all his livestock, if you believe such superstitious nonsense of course.

...

"Weird, it's not the season for rain." Remington commented, looking out the window as he was distracted from his crossword puzzle.

One of his lieutenants burst into the office. "Sir, your pet unevolved hamsters just had their litter!"

...

Athair raised his arms in a dramatic pose. "What can I say? I know my great-grandson like the back of my hand!"

"Shouldn't Riahta know him perfectly then?" Sally asked. The princess was worried about the villain being able to predict Knuckles' every move in the fight to come.

Athair shook his head. "Not quite, my dear. Riahta isn't exactly my opposite twin. He is a mockery of me, just as in his eyes I'm a mockery of him. He detests everything I stand for. The same applies to almost every being on the other side of the mirror."

Athair thought to himself but left unsaid, -I play people so they can wake themselves up, no matter how much they detest me afterwards. Riahta plays people to gain their trust, all for his own personal wants. I see that now.-

Sally thought of Yllas. She didn't overthrow her father and throw Acorn Kingdom into chaos because she felt the duty to, or that her father was wrongfully running the Kingdom, she didn't even do it for power. Yllas did it because she felt like it, it was a thrill. The rebel had no real goals or direction, all that mattered was the moment, who cared about the future? "I see what you mean."

"At least love is the same," Amy said out of the blue.

Nearly everyone looked at her. "Well…" Amy took a step back at the sudden attention before remembering herself and standing tall. "I mean, if Riahta was born, that means his parents got together just like Athair's parents, and if there's an evil Sonic, doesn't that mean his parents got together too?"

"You have a point," Athair admitted. "But love can be perverted too. I personally would rather not want to know what relationship Riahta had with his wife. And remember, just because our worlds are parallel now, doesn't mean they're always going to be, or always were. Riahta's invasion has already cracked the mirror. Who's to say what will be the end result?"

"You're the prophet. You tell us," Knuckles grumbled, still sulking over being easily played for the millionth time.

That stupid smile never once left Athair's face. "Yes but I'm not God."

…

Peeking through the door from the hallway…

"Why are we even still here?" Sabre asked, feeling annoyed that the Guardians were reducing themselves to Peeping Toms just to see what was happening in their own palace.

Locke thought for a moment. "Witnesses. To keep an eye on Athair. Plus I feel being here is proving informative."

"I feel like it's a waste of time," Thunderhawk grunted.

"Learning is never a waste of time," Sabre said to his elder.

"Not if what you're learning is meaningless."

"People are meaningless?" Locke asked in confusion.

Thunderhawk shook his head. "No. But these aliens' lives are their own, not ours. There are more important things to worry about."

Sabre chuckled. "Maybe, but I'm rather enjoying watching dad play grandson like a flute. The hot head does need to be taken down a peg."

"I can hear you, you know!" Knuckles yelled from inside the room.

"You think the exact same thing about Hawking," Thunderhawk said to Sabre.

"Not quite, he just needs to stop thinking that all aliens are out to nuke Angel Island."

"Forgive me for being majorly affected by the near annihilation of our civilization," Hawking snapped.

"Hey!" Knuckles didn't like being ignored. Athair took him by the shoulder and restrained him easily. Stupid deceptively strong grip!

"Don't bother, it's what they do, talking about people while they're in the room or just outside it like they're not there is almost an unwritten rule. You'd be surprised what habits you develop when you can live past a hundred and fifty."

"I'm getting confused who's being sarcastic and whose not," Amy commented, listening in on the Guardians' debate.

"Don't worry, it's not just you," Hershey grunted, polishing her gun again just for something to do.

"Two-Tails," said Athair, stunning the boy by bothering to speak to his 'chosen one' with others around. "I must give you credit. When I was able to make out Geoffrey's death in Riahta's mind, I wasn't able to make out the why except for 'no witnesses.' It made no sense at the time so I believed I had imagined it, like when one sees writing in cracks on the wall when it's really just random lines. I'll confess, it took you a little while to put two and two together. When you fled Riahta's gasp and he went to the trouble of deceiving his own Knights with trying to 'rescue' you and assassinate you at the same time I rethought what I had seen. Even I wasn't able to figure Riahta's playing of King Acorn and St. John from what I saw in Riahta's mind."

Knuckles at last was able to point out a weakness to the old man. "So you're not perfect!"

"What can I say, I'm a flawed mortal just like you. It's the guys I work for that are perfect."

Black lightning struck Hershey's brain. A roaring fire of anger and accusation that could be seen clearly through her eyes burst into being as she hissed and snarled like a feral feline right in the echidna's face, fangs showing. "Why? If you knew all this old man than why? Geoffrey for all his faults didn't deserve that. I know I could have freed him from his worse side! He always charged forward into battle without mutant abilities, magic powers, nor one-of-a-kind super weapons to hide behind, he only relied on his own skill and courage. We had a future together after this war! We were going to bring new life into this world of death!" Everyone took a step back from her. Some scared of her, others for her.

Athair's face was so neutral, so grim, so dark, so cold, and was so uncharacteristic it made a few jump, though he whispered so close to Hershey's ear that only she could hear his meaning. "Even if one of those lives could be born a monster that would bring about an age that would make Robotnik's empire seem kind by comparison?"

Hershey felt sick. "Are you saying…" She couldn't finish the sentence if her life depended on it.

Athair seemed to collapse, his staff's support being the only thing keeping him from falling into a pile on the floor. "Excuse me my dear. I'm old, and I need my rest." Athair walked over to a blue chair that might or might not have been there a second before and rested his legs and closed his eyes for a few precious minutes.

Why wasn't Hershey yelling at him? Why wasn't she calling him a liar? Why wasn't she telling him what he could do with his prophecies? Why wasn't she screaming in denial, rage, and hatred? Wasn't that what she should have been doing? She was no slave to fate, she had never once believed in it. She knew her life was her own. She knew it was only what you made it. There was no way the old man, and the mosaic could be right, right? Right. It had to be a lie. She had come so far. Walked for so long. That couldn't be all it amounted to. She had left the Cat Country and never once looked back. This couldn't have been were the road stopped. Not after it had become side by side with his. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. This one time, it had to be fair, right?

...

With the end of the Overlander war, and the swift war to follow on all things flesh and blood by Robotnik and his machines, Hershey was quick to find herself out of work. She had in the short time between the two wars thought about becoming a policewoman. But she didn't have the people skills needed to hold the public trust or to keep a simple debriefing from turning into a 'bad cop/good cop' scenario with her always as the former.

So Hershey had, for the shortest time, been happy to hear of another conflict breaking out. That was until she heard that this wasn't just the people of Mobius trying to kill each other again. This was survival of the living versus the unliving. And the sentence of failure in this war wasn't death (Hershey had prepped for that years ago) this was the fate of being a prisoner in your own body, being a slave inside your mind, doomed to watch your own existence like a mock picture show, or what the few Robians (a slang term that been invented by persons or peoples unknown) that the heroes had been able to bring back to their senses for a precious short time described it as. So, with the military shattered or enslaved by Robotnik's betrayal, those with real fighting experience had become a precious commodity. And so it was by word of mouth, lots of walking, and dumb luck, Hershey had stumbled across Knothole: The hiding-place for the royal family and their inner circle and a precious few others. The fighters were divided into groups. The first group was lead by Princess Sally, apparently seeing her world destroyed around her had made the pampered kid grow up very fast and readjust to the reality of the world. It was composed mostly of orphans who had no fighting experience before Robotnik's coup and concentrated mostly on sabotage, espionage, and intelligence. Among these was the nephew of noted scientist Charles Hedgehog, a bizarre kitsune child who followed Hedgehog like a shadow, and a newer member from the southern territories who had been saved from a roboticizer a few seconds too late, poor thing. The second group was made up of those who had genuine experience fighting and had hooked up with Knothole a short time before Hershey found the place. This was Geoffrey St. John's platoon, composed of everything from rookies to veterans, and like Sally's team, was far too small to fight Robotnik's empire in a traditional face-off on the battlefield. Geoffrey knew who she was when she made her entrance. Apparently Hershey's reputation preceded her; she had fought on enough different sides.

After being given an examination to make sure she wasn't carrying anything lethal diseases or was a robot in a skin suit, and made the mandatory 'hail hail' to the royal brat, she finally had her chance to speak with Geoffrey.

Geoffrey looked her over when they were alone and glanced at a water-stained piece of paper in a very wrinkled folder. Geoffrey must have gotten it from the remains of one of Robotnik's mop-up operations. "Your profile listed you as older," he said matter-of-fact.

"Must have been a filing error." There was little sense in her lying about her age now with the collapse of civilization within the Acorn Kingdom. If she ever told anyone her real age when she had first started her career choice, she would have been shipped back home or given to a foster family. And Hershey, being a self-centered moody teenager, had wanted no part in that.

What stank was that she had been so deep in the country when the coup happened, if she had been near the border, she could have fled, like many others, until Robotnik reached out to capture those nations as well. Amazing when you have an army that doesn't eat or sleep.

"So you're familiar with all modern small arms fire and a multitude of heavy arms weapons and a small number of traditional explosives?"

She nodded. "That's me in a nutshell."

Geoffrey raised an eyebrow. "I'll be glad to have someone with your experience then."

"We haven't discussed my fee."

"Room and board and the knowledge you're fighting against evil."

Her eyes widened. "You're joking!" She had fought against 'evil' before, often with the previous evil.

Geoffrey actually took her by the neck via pressure points and pressed her to a window. "Take a good look out there. Nearly all those kids and people there have no family beyond this place. There's no supermarket, no internet, no movie theater, no television. We're not echidnas. We're in the real world. You think money means a thing in this world right now? It's just meaningless paper and numbers on a computer screen! No one here is paid a penny." Geoffrey let go of her and easily dodged the predictable grab. "I've seen what's left of Mobotropolis. It's not right to let that happen to everything else…and many of the people here have nowhere to go." Most of what Geoffrey said flew over the cat's head.

Hershey raised an eyebrow at the skunk. "You've never been paid a cent for anything you've done here. And never will be. I can tell just by looking at you. You have skill and wits to leave all this behind. So why do you stay?"

Seeing that getting at this cat's heart (assuming she had one) was a lost cause, Geoffrey folded his arms and said calmly. "It's my duty. Which is all I need to know."

Hershey looked at him funny. "I don't get it."

"You're welcome to leave. The border is only a few thousand miles away. And when you're turned into a slave you won't be able to access anything you knew as a living person so we don't need to worry about you revealing Knothole's location."

"I didn't say that! But as soon as civilization is back on its feet I'm going to need spending cash."

Geoffrey kept a business face. "Minimum fee."

"You're joking." Hershey was not some wet behind the ears grunt with a gun.

"It's more than you'll get from the machines. Take it or leave it."

"I still don't get what you, or anyone else has by staying so close to the dragon's den though."

He smirked. "Stay around, and maybe, just maybe you'll learn something."

And so Hershey had stayed, if anything just to unwrap this enigma of a skunk that fought for ideas, not revenge, not a pay check, but for 'duty.' She was sure she'd find another reason buried underneath eventually: a selfish desire for power, for wealth, for status, something, anything as long as it dragged down St. John to just being another Mobian with a weapon. Instead she had found tradition, expectations, and a choice to follow in the footsteps of those he loved.

Instead of finding St. John was at her level, she found he was at a higher one, one she felt an irresistible urge to climb up to, to understand. Maybe it was just good old-fashioned cat curiosity, maybe she was still hoping to find the selfish person underneath, but Hershey stayed, and continued to stay. Even when there had been a couple other groups that had offered her more than what Geoffrey had promised. Though each time she thought about it, the more she considered it wrong to ask for a paycheck after having toppled the incarnation of evil, which she learned was no mere propaganda piece here.

Until it hit her. She wanted to be like Geoffrey. She didn't want to fight just for her own sake and that of her purse string. She wanted to be able to fight for others as well. He was her ideal. She had seen super powered mobians like Sonic Hedgehog, 'Tails' Prower, Bunnie Rabbot, all fight so bravely, but she had expected that. When you had abilities beyond those of other flesh and blood creatures (or mostly in Rabbot's case) you were free to push a bit harder, take risks a bit more, and because they were more spectacular, people took more notice of them. But Geoffrey, she saw him taking risks just as great, of course they weren't as dramatic, but she couldn't bring herself to care. All the hard fighting he had done, never noticed, barely acknowledged, and yet his duty stayed firm.

Another reason why the betrayal of that duty, more than the betrayal of his own team, had shocked Hershey to her core. Geoffrey would have sooner slit his own throat than abandoned his duty. The first time Hershey had seen his sense of duty she had called him a foolish, idiotic moron. He told her what he thought of someone who fought for money, and for the first time in Hershey's life, it had actually hurt when someone had said it. This confused and maddened her, why, why were his words so much more important to her?

It had taken seeing him broken after Sally's rejection of him for Hershey to realize the truth. She loved him. And that truth had been so positively frightening, that for the only time in her life Hershey shrunk from the battle, like a coward.

Now what could have been would never be, because she, Hershey Feline, who had faced down Overlanders, Dragons, killing machines, had been scared of telling someone she was in love. How's that for her self-esteem?

She knew that maybe her telling Geoffrey before might have stopped Riahta, might have stopped all this death, but in a realization that rebuilt her soul from the foundations up, she knew her own death wouldn't bring back the dead or stop more death. But Riahta's death, that would most certainly prevent more death down the road, or at least keep lives worth living. Yes. That was the right course of action. Kill Riahta. That would be good. Yes, very good indeed. She knew her Geoffrey would be proud of her. And if she wasn't the one to put fifteen slugs into his head, well, she wanted to be there for the show!

"Hershey girl?" Bunnie asked.

"I'm perfectly fine," the black cat said standing up. Why was Bunnie suddenly reminded how cats ate rabbits in the unevolved world?

"We're not perfectly fine," said Thunderhawk, reminding everyone at last that the Brotherhood had been standing just outside the whole time. "We still have no way to get up to Riahta's ship without being blasted to bits, and are doomed to just wait for him to kamikaze the last of his fighters at us. We're still sentenced to waiting for him to take the fight to us, _again_. "

"I can show you how," Tails said. "I walked around inside that thing until I came across Riahta's room, and he gave each of us a blueprint of the ship inside our heads when he violated us. It looks frightening and can cause serious damage, but like everything he's made or changed so far, it has a host of glaring flaws. It has its share of blind spots, and since I was able to sneak up on him, I don't think Riahta can sense people themselves just by them being close. Riahta's always kept the others inside when not fighting. I can show you how to get inside so we can skip the air battle stage and go straight to the onboard part of the fight."

"And we will trust you?" Hawking said skeptically.

"Yes, we will trust him," said Sabre right to Hawking face.

"Tails, you shouldn't go into a fight so soon," Sally said hopelessly.

Tails shook his head. "We don't have a choice. I know that ship better than any one of us. And no one's better in the air here than me! Aunt Sally please, trust me." Sally wished to God that she could just say no. "It's all right, you'll be with me this time, so will Amy, I'm not worried with you two there." That was enough.

Sally spoke with the air of a princess, and the presence of a leader. "Everyone, if you have any final soul-searching you want to do or any preparations you want to make then we had better make them now. This is going to be our final battle against Riahta and his puppets. We have to come at them with our all or we'll be dead. We have to be prepared for anything, there's no telling what twisted defenses Riahta has planned for us, or what horrors he's creating to deal with us. But this time we're going to take the fight to him. So everyone be ready for the fight of your lives because you can bet Riahta isn't about to make this easy for us."

...

Riahta was curled into a ball lying on his side on the floor of his private chamber. His eyes bulged as he repeatedly shook. He was not, however, suffering a visit from his masters, not yet anyway.

"No…no…no…why…why…why…Why after everything? I've waited so long. How did things start to go so wrong? Just two left. I can't go in with only two to spare! I don't have the power left to make any extras! No! No! No!"

Riahta looked on the verge of tears. It was a wonder he had not wetted himself and was not sucking his thumb. Fear, panic, denial, frustration, all clumped together into a mass of dread that grew inside of the wicked sage by the minute like a tumor.

How could a meaningless, purposeless, little creature like _her_ have fended off and defeated his most glorious mental assault and vivisection?! There shouldn't have been an entity in creation that could have helped her, let alone save her! His strike at her innermost self had been a work of art! And yet with only the slightest push from some wretched outsider, she had broken through not only her own bindings but the ones of the little orange abomination as well! Only the slightest push! Hearts were supposed to shatter under the slightest push, not come back together! Was nothing in this inverted reality the way things should be?

Mortals were weak-willed, weak-hearted, weak-minded, weak-bodied little creatures that didn't have the brains to build their destinies or even follow along a road laid out right before their eyes! This was absurd! Was this pink runt a freak of nature as well? Were there no normal beings here? Or where they all outnumbered by these things that dared think they could stand tall with hope in their hearts in a hopeless world?! What sheer madness was this universe?!

And now his chances of welcoming his masters here to bring sanity to it were going down the drainage ditch one by one.

Riahta looked at his playthings and trophies, at his toys he had worn out and broken well before this, not bothering to save any for later, thinking he'd have plenty of new and better toys to play with after he had brought his masters into this world and he was rewarded with power beyond the limited and shallow minds of mortal creatures unlike himself.

Now he felt a warped longing to switch places with those he himself had tormented and made beg for their deaths. Their pain, their suffering, would be nothing compared to what his masters would reward him with for his failures.

His masters would drag him down below and make him envy his own projects.

Below. Below? Below! BELOW! Hahahahahah! Yes! Yes! YES!!!!

Riahta was absolutely giddy. He got off the floor and began to dance around cracking bones and not caring at all, laughing with a glee that would freeze the hearts of many a soul. He would have it all, he would, there was no escape for the arrogant, pea-brain little creatures now! He was going to win!

"Minions!" Riahta called out singsong, knowing full well 'minion' wasn't the best word to use with a lot who you're supposed to be playing into thinking you're the good guy, but he didn't care, he was two steps away from winning anyway. "It's time to go and get our big, big prize!" Riahta cackled again. And Kajrene/Irtimid had said Riahta had doomed his soul with this path! What did he know, the silly fool?

...

Ever wanting to know more about an opponent, Knuckles had a serious question for his ancestor. "How were you able to teleport to avoid my punch in the Emerald chamber earlier? I thought you couldn't do that in here."

Athair chuckled. "It wasn't teleportation, just good footwork, plus you were too ticked off to think straight in that moment. I just took advantage of it."

Knuckles huffed and sulked some more. "Would you all stop picking on me?!"

"You and Sonikku both have the exact same problem. You keep using these," Athair tapped Knuckles' fists using the thin end of his staff, "Or these," he tapped Knuckles' feet. "Instead of this!" He knocked Knuckles hard on the head affectionately. "All those enhanced brains your dad gave you mean diddly if you don't use them! You won't be able to rely just on instinct in your upcoming fight, if you don't use your head on top of it you are going to lose badly."

"Prophecy again?" Knuckles grumbled.

"No, advice from someone who went after his kidnapped son without thinking and came home to his wife with a limp. I suggest you put aside that paranoia you picked up after Robotnik stabbed you in the back and listen for once in your life."

Sermons were nothing new from Athair. "Why should I?"

"Julie-Su."

Knuckles humbled himself. "…As you wish great grandpa."

And to think, Athair had only been waiting ten years for Knuckles to say those words. And all it took was the near possible end of the world. Ugh. Stupid sarcasm.

…

"So think you can make up with him?" Sabre asked his son.

Locke sighed. "I have to try. And you did make up with me."

Sabre nodded and patted his boy on the back. "True enough, son. But in your own way, you went further than any of us."

"Maybe. But what's the point of life if you don't try?"

"You tried with Lara."

"And I won't repeat those mistakes with my son."

"Just try not to make sure the new mistakes aren't as big as the old ones," Sabre advised.

…

"We _are_ going to kill Riahta right?" Hershey asked politely, checking the ammo on her weapons and tightening parts.

"Yes," everyone said so at once around her.

Hershey felt a slight happiness. "Good. Just making sure."

…

"Sorry you're going to miss out?" Spectre asked the Rabbot.

"Only cause ah know ah could do some good there. And ah know Sally won't let me go, and it's kinda hard ta sneak onta this mission."

"I could teleport you along if you want," Spectre offered.

She raised an eyebrow. "Ya flirtin'?"

Spectre shrugged. "Just being a gentlemen."

…

"Amy…" Tails began, slightly meek.

Amy spoke calmly. "Try to talk me out of going and I'll break your tails."

Tails sweatdropped. "I was going to say, it's great to finally have you alongside for a major fight, I know you can take care of yourself."

"Oh." Amy blushed. "Thank you."

…

Sally looked into the blade of the electrum sword, to be looking at herself in this way now held a double meaning. A part of herself, she was just a part. She knew she was Sally. But they also knew they were a unified whole. They were Sally; they were Amy for a short time as well. They had never been Mongul, just an unwilling slave to Mongul and his greed for power and ambition. Sally had a new appreciation for her father in comparison.

She and Amy had already talked about Amy's time linked to the sword. In that moment, there had been such understanding. Still, Sally could still appreciate being a separate entity. However, now it seemed like just another perception, rather than the one perception. And a rather limited perception at that.

Her eyes had been opened to a new world, while not forsaking her old one. And she wanted Maurice to get a chance to glimpse it. She had that bottle still hidden underneath her floorboards. And she wouldn't leave his soul in the hands of that dirty bastard!

"All right," said Sally, firmly putting the loaded scabbard around her waist. She faced her teammates, one and all. Heh, even Nicole. The brotherhood of Guardians. Athair. Hershey Feline. Knuckles the Echidna. Bunnie Rabbot. Amy Rose. Miles 'Tails' Prower. "Let's go get back Sonic!"

She took two steps and All of Hidden Palace, all of Angel Island, shook as the end of the world was set in motion.

…

"What the Chaos is this?!" Remington demanded as his crossword puzzle slid across the shaking table and fell into the paper shredder, making it the six hundred and ninety seventh he had never completed. There wasn't an echidna on all of Angel Island that had ever once lived through an earthquake. The island simply didn't have them! As such, the buildings of Echidnaopolis had no defense against such quakes. The closest thing the city had were some token gestures of caution the elected officials had put in place should Angel Island for whatever reason hit the surface.

…

"It's the end of the world!" Screamed a Legionnaire, running in a circle with his arms in the air as the installation shook around him.

Lien-Da punched him in the gut, forcing him to his knees. "Stop it you big baby! Somebody's probably messing with the Master Emerald again, I blame that stupid Guardian! Xenin!" she barked.

"Yes Mistress Lien?" the hulking bodyguard asked.

"Beat this fool to death, he annoys me!"

"Yes Mistress Lien." He did so. Lien watched, her mind off the ominous shaking as she lustily watched her slave kill the worthless waste of space.

…

Riahta felt rather proud of himself. His only real regret was that he hadn't thought of it sooner. Having lost no less than four of his weapons, he knew his masters did not destroy him where he stood only because they had no one else to spare at the moment. However, Riahta was a true believer in the power of fear, and this belief was realized when Riahta, thinking of a way out of this mess, was struck by the creative idea of taking the island from below! Truly, it was a wonder Riahta's body didn't burst at the seams from the pride swelling inside him.

Riahta's plan of attack would have been outright laughed at by every sane military strategist on Mobius who had any practical amount of information on Angel Island. It was simply impossible. Even Robotnik, who had been infamous for attempting and accomplishing the absurd nearly as much as his blue-quilled rival, would have dismantled the minion who suggested such a course of action. No drill could hope to penetrate Angel Island's underside without melting first, or just dull to a round tip. No engine strong enough to turn the drill could be kept airborne long enough and still have enough punch to turn the tip with enough force to get past the protective layer of mantle.

Well, all those naysayers were being proved wrong here and now.

The independent blades coming to a point that composed the drill were harder, sharper, and more heat-resistant than any mining device conceived or implemented by any of the races on Mobius. The Vengeance held the force necessary, yet was small enough to push its way through. It was able to push the precious earth aside and dig deeper, like a parasite burrowing into the warm flesh of a living host, seeking out the precious internal organs on which to feed. Riahta had actually had this and one other form evolution for the Vengeance in mind from the start, since he didn't know precisely where in Echidnaopolis the Master Emerald was going to be, plus he wanted the ship to dig in before assuming its third and final shape so he could send the citizens of the island running in terror as his evil fortress dramatically erupted from the ground, as the majority of evil fortresses are required to by law.

Riahta could actually stick his tongue out and taste it! Success, victory, power, revenge, wealth, an endless harem; all of it was going to be his!

Riahta knew he had made the right decision when he left the Guardians to serve the Dark Walkers. And his wife said he was throwing his soul away. He had always admired her ruthlessness, he had always had better things to do than beat Erbas into submission. But the stupid woman always had such a lack of vision. Well, he was sure she saw things differently after he tore her eyes, tongue, ears, and nose off and left her to die in the wasteland.

Riahta of course had no way of knowing that just as Athair's wife had become one of Robotnik's machines, Riahta's mate had been roboticized to save her life after being come across by the skinny, befuddled, but ultimately brilliant and kind-hearted Dr. Julian Kinbotor. Using the roboticizer the good doctor had recovered from the mad scientist Sir Selrahc Hedgehog, (after modifying it so the person kept their sense of self of course) she had become of the doctor's converts in his crusade to try and combat the corruption that propagated their world. Riahta probably wouldn't have cared though, he had cared for nothing but his own self in over ninety years.

Riahta barked orders at his minions as the dark ship tore through Angel Island's heart. "Prepare yourselves, once inside Hidden Palace follow Lightspeed's memories directly to the Chaos Chamber! We will secure the Master Emerald at once! We will not give the idiots time to come to its aid!"

Lightspeed was a tad confused about their objectives. "Er, Master, we _are_ going to make another attempt to make another rescue for Tempest are we not?"

"Tempest is dead." Riahta spoke the words with total disinterest.

'No.' "W-what?"

Riahta's voice was completely indifferent. "He is dead. The pink hedgehog killed him."

Riahta's words had their desired effect, Lightspeed was made silent. Amy had killed Tempest? The Knight could not believe what he heard, but Riahta had said it, so it must be so. To think! That Amy would kill her own boyfriend. What a foul and wicked little creature. She would suffer for this. Lightspeed would see to that. And Sally would suffer too, for daring to let it happen! Lightspeed swore bloody, violent revenge. They would beg for death when he finally gave it to them, no, then he would give them to his master, and they would continue to suffer until he was sated, which would be never, for this unforgivable crime against his little brother. Oh yes, they would get a Lightspeed beating that they would never have any hope of forgetting!

…

Athair held his head as if suffering from the world's worst headache as the entire room trembled. It was a wonder he didn't hit against a wall and shatter. "Riahta has beaten us to the punch! But he's not coming at us the same way he did before, and he is NOT coming through the Lava Reef zone! He's coming up from _below_ Angel Island! He's tearing through to Hidden Palace from underneath!"

"How would you know!" Hawking spat in the forming chaos.

"Don't ask me! I say these things all the time without knowing them!"

"But it's impossible!" Sojourner objected.

"Tell that to the shaking walls!" Spectre retorted.

"How is he doing this!" Sally cried. Riahta didn't have this kind of power left, she knew this plain as day.

"The Vengeance," Tails said. "It's…part of the implanted knowledge, this was one of the shapes it could take later on…the next shape…all I know is that's it's called The Gate!"

Knuckles cursed. "This is so not good!"

Sabre gasped. "Oh no. Oh-no! This is much worse than any of you already think!!!"

"What?" Sally asked.

"There are pockets of magma within Angel Island kept molten due to a side effect of the chaos emeralds. The balance of the Master and chaos emeralds has always kept them in check. But the enemy ship's drilling could cause a rupture, like sticking a knife in a boil. If the molten rock is let loose it could cause a chain reaction that would collapse half the island!"

"No!" Hawking cursed. "If only there were a few of us still in the Master Emerald chamber, we'll never make it back in time! Oh, why did our ancestors have to make this place so damn big?!"

Spectre had to say it. "As I recall Hawking, it was your idea that we all be near the fox boy in case he turned on us again."

"No…" Hawking hissed, but that sharp edge of that hiss was directed at himself.

"Looks like Hidden Palace's anti-teleportation field just got used against its intention."

"CAN IT ATHAIR!" The Guardians, including Knuckles, said as one.

Sally kept her cool. "Which means we finish this now, or win or lose we all die anyway. We don't know if we have a minute or an hour, so we can't wait for anything!"

Tails had to say it. "We have even less than that! Riahta has Sonic remember?!"

Amy's face went blank. "We are in so deep."

"Than sink or swim! Change tha battle plans sugah, I'm comin' with ya guys too!" Bunnie said, getting out of the simplistic bed.

Sally's voice was stern. "You can forget it Bunnie."

"And how do ya figure that?"

"One, you heard Sabre's orders on you not being able to fight, and I know you wouldn't want to go anywhere looking like that!" Sally pointed at Bunnie's ruined purple attire.

Without a word, Bunnie tore off the remains of her jumpsuit. They stared. Sojourner had a nosebleed. Miles flushed as Amy quickly covered her eyes, feeling more than a little frustration that the first mammary glands Miles saw weren't her own, wait, how did that make sense? Hershey and Sally went around in the fur anyway! Bunnie looked at them incredulously. "What're ya all lookin' at? Ah have fur don't I? What do ya take me fer, a Terran?"

"Looks like you can't get rid of any of us, princess," Hershey said matter of fact.

Tiny bits of cobalt begin to flutter down into the head fur of the mobians. Sally's eyes saw the fractures beginning to form in the walls of the chamber. Bunnie might actually be in slightly less danger coming with them.

"Amy," Tails began.

"Changed your mind Tails?"

"No. You?"

"No. This time I won't ask you to stay, this time I'll come with you."

"However, Tails-" Sally began.

"No Aunt Sally!"

"You're not needed for an air assault now," she pointed out.

"And we gotta stick together or we're all pancakes!" Tails had noticed the weakening state of the palace too.

Sally didn't have time for this, but he couldn't just knock out Tails and Bunnie and leave them here when everything might fall apart around them. "Fine. We need to get going now!!"

"Agreed, sadly we can't join you!" Sabre said, surprising Locke and Spectre.

Sally really didn't have time for this. "Aren't you coming?"

Sabre shook his head franticly. "We can't! Angel Island is doomed one way or the other if the internal framework of the island collapses. It's going to take everything we the Brotherhood have to keep it from happening. We may have sworn to protect the Master Emerald, but the Island comes first. I'm sorry Princess, you and your allies are on your own. We can both fight, but you can't redirect magma flows via sheer willpower. If the magma even reaches the conduits, the damage could be irrevocable."

Sally gripped the sword slightly tighter. "We _are_ running out of time. Will the Palace still be able to direct us?"

"As long as it doesn't completely collapse," Sabre said.

"Then that'll have to do! Everyone! Move out now! And I _mean_ now!"

The Freedom Fighters, plus Knuckles, raced from the ward, splitting off from the Guardians.

"Princess!" Sabre called at the last moment before they were out of earshot. "Good luck."

"You didn't ask your son to stay or go, he just went." Spectre observed to Locke.

Locke smirked. "He's off to save the one he loves; you think anything I could say or do would have stopped him?"

Spectre shook his head. "No…not really."

"We can't teleport within the palace! We have to get to the Lava Reef the old fashioned way! If we're lucky we'll make it just in time to prevent the magma from spilling over into the hidden cavern! But only if we go now!" Sabre reminded everyone.

"Maybe it would better if we let the magma rush in, and bury the Master Emerald and Riahta in molten rock!" Sojourner suggested.

Hawking and Thunderhawk whacked him at the same time. Athair did too, just for fun. "Bite your tongue! I won't resort to the coward's path! And we don't know if the Master Emerald will be able to spread its power through the island if it's encased in melted stone, it could make Angel Island crash into the ocean and kill everyone from the impact!"

"Isn't risking the Master Emerald's power worth protecting it from that reverse Athair?" Sojourner whimpered, rubbing his sore head.

Hawking shook his head. "I won't blow up the fort just because the enemy is at the gate."

"But we can't protect the Master Emerald and prevent the magma from tearing the island apart at the same time!" Sojourner protested.

Hawking swallowed hard, and said the hardest thing in his life. "Then…we'll…*gulp* just have to trust the aliens." They stared at him, amazed he had made such an admission.

Sojourner scowled and crossed his arms in a sulk. "I have as much faith in them as Athair's imaginary gods."

Athair moaned. "I keep telling you Sojourner, we're imagined by them not the other way around."

He had just one thing to say to that. "What a load of-"

...

The goddess bumped her head. "Ow!" She rubbed the sore spot. "I think I just forgot something insignificant."

...

Sojourner faded from all reality. Athair looked at the others, somewhat befuddled. "Was I just talking to someone?"

The five Guardians all looked at each other in confusion, but couldn't remember who Athair had just been talking to.

...

Aurora snapped her fingers. "Oh wait, now I remember."

...

Sojourner faded back into existence as if he had never left, which, technically speaking, he hadn't. "Now let's get a move on already!"

Sabre rolled his eyes. "First reasonable thing you've said in a while. Let's go."

They did.

...

Like an insane surgeon, the Vengeance tore through the island, ripping through the bedrock and up through the thick azure floor, the drill head splitting apart into its individual blades and piercing the edges of the chamber, like the hungry fangs of a beast ready to devour its helpless prey.

The Master Emerald, unable to move of its own accord, could only lay in its bed, helpless as the monsters came ever closer. It was already starting to regret not moving to another dimension after all…

Even as the Master Emerald observed, the walls were torn through by the black and red techno-organic mass of the invasive thing, leaving only a small 'hole' at the top of the remade chamber.

And in the hallways beyond, like a infective plague, the mass of the Vengeance changed shape, spreading over the walls and floors of Hidden Palace. A black and glowing red fungus covered the holy place, violating it beyond measure. The palace itself felt fear and pain at losing contact with a part of itself. The Master Emerald for the first time in its existence truly felt isolated from its protectors. But whatever this enemy wanted, it would not use the Master Emerald as its tool pawn without a fight!

…

Riahta could sense loud and clear the defiance the Master Emerald radiated with his approach. Not that it really mattered. It didn't matter one bit what the stupid stone itself thought, it was nothing more than a glorified giant battery. Why it should even have its own mind was a mystery to Riahta, but a meaningless one.

…

Like undead rising from their graves, the Knights following Lightspeed's lead entered the Master Emerald's chamber as spokes tore their way out of the floor, not one of them touching the Master Emerald or the empty Super Emerald stands.

Riahta had to be carried by them, since by that point he was so weakened he could barely even crawl across the ground. His vision was blurry, the taste of blood refused to leave his mouth, he could even smell blood whether he was bleeding or not. Before he would have cackled in glee, or walked about drinking in his victory after having finally achieved his goal without having to fight at all (rather odd but maybe a good thing). Now he had just enough time left on the clock to look at the prize he had manipulated kings and commoners, waged wars, and crossed reality itself to claim. It was about time! Stupid pawns, they should have been able to bring him to his Master Emerald long before this! At least they had done their job.

"It is done!" Shine exclaimed. "We have reached the Master Emerald after all our long and hard battles and cruel sacrifices just as you have asked O Great Riahta of the Great Walkers!"

"No…" Riahta said as his ever-obedient mutated Julie-Su gently put him down. He was barely able to stand on his two feet without collapsing to the ground. "It's not quite done. Lightspeed, behind me." Riahta had Mourning Star do the same. His muscles beginning to tear, Riahta pointed at the Super Emerald pillars. "You there, you there, you and you and you."

Riahta pointed at a Knight and at a pillar, using the last of his power reserves to dull their reason so they wouldn't question him. He didn't have time to make up a lie.

The blindly trusting Order Knights all hopped onto the pillar they were instructed to.

"You sorry retarded lot have finally brought me to the key. Which means you have fulfilled your initial purpose, but don't worry, I have a permanent task for you," Riahta said with a smug sneer on his face.

The wicked sage held his staff in both hands right in front of him. He removed his hands from the staff and slowly moved them away but the staff remained in its position, suspended in mid air.

Suddenly the staff's reptilian eyes opened, glowing red like crimson jewels, its revealed wings reached out full spread, and its mouth opened wide. The sage rolled his eyes into his skull and tilted his head back; whispering foul words in Echidna for several seconds, causing the air around him to tremble then came forward with a grunt that cracked the bones in his fragile neck.

Riahta said the key word, and with the tiny bit of power left inside him, activated the ultimate task of his puppets.

Purple lighting burst from each of the Knights, connecting with each other and reaching out to the Master Emerald in a circular web with the giant jewel in the center.

"What is this?!" Shine cried, the fog totally gone from his mind, as with the other Knights.

Riahta spoke the way he would to the most stupid person imaginable. "Just some construction, connecting the Master Emerald in this mirror world with the Slave Emerald in mine. They will join these two realities. But the Master Emerald is incompatible with my magic, so I need a medium to translate my power into something that can affect the Master Emerald and bring it in tune with the Slave Emerald. And you have the honor of being the conductors for my power into the Master Emerald, forevermore, or until you burn out into nothing. My _brave_ Orders Knights," Riahta said with the mocking tone of a little boy who had just outwitted an adult. "My brave _Super Order Emeralds_!"

"This is how the Great Walkers reward us for our loyalty?!!" Havoc cried in horror.

Athair snickered in delight. "Open your eyes fool, you have been used from the beginning, you should have listened to that fake Thunderhawk and those little women creatures when you had the chance."

"This was your plan all along?!" Hiroshima wailed.

Riahta had never felt so at ease with the universe. "Of course. A good one wasn't it?"

"We are Knights! You can't do this!" Anark screamed.

Riahta grinned with shark's teeth. "I made you Knights, and now you'll be something else."

Terra tried to say something, anything to make this at least seem like her decision. "We must not resist, it is the master's will, even if we are sacrificed it will bring us great honor."

Havoc, Patricia, had one thing to say to that. "Don't be an idiot, this is sheer betrayal, what final reward do you think you will gain from the Great Walkers by serving as their paperweight?"

This was better than discount night in the geisha house! "You speak about all of this as if you even have a choice. You won't have wits to mind in a moment anyway. Now that we've got step one out of the way, let's proceed with step two."

"Lightspeed-Sonic help!" Shine, Stu, screamed desperately. But Mourning Star just stood about like a robot, while Lightspeed was in a mindless daze.

…

Why were Mobian echidnas omnivorous when their closest dental relative was the shark?

How come Mobian hedgehogs had two pupils but only one eye? And why could they wink as if they had two?

Lightspeed thought idly as his teammates screamed, a different colored aura now surrounding each of them. He moved on to wondering why Mobian insectoids had eyeballs opposed to compound eyes, and lungs opposed to sideways breathing passages like their much smaller unevolved cousins, and why their faces on the whole looked so mammalian as the screaming of Lightspeed's fellow Knights far too slowly stopped.

…

The seven Knights' final words were less than memorable to Riahta.

"Bark…sorry," Hiroshima, Bean, said looking at his long time partner. The bear beast just moaned, still not able to speak a word.

"No…Sonic…please…help." Terratus, Tommy, pleaded to the unresponsive hedgehog.

"Captain, Miss Hershey, where are you! I was wrong! Help!" Shine, Wombat Stu, called, looking upwards, his tears turning to yellow glass even as he cried them.

"This isn't happening, this isn't happing," Anark, Puck ranted until the end, waking up from one nightmare only to be in another.

"You'll die for this you dirty bastard, I promise!" Patricia said, knowing exactly how empty her words were.

Terra, Anne, whispered to herself, "Too late, for any regrets."

And then they were gone.

…

For all of Riahta's ill preparations, he had known enough about the Master Emerald to know that it would not submissively surrender its power like the Slave Emerald did. Thus like a dentist pulling teeth, Riahta had come prepared to take this power by force, and now he reshaped his tools into their final and proper forms to do just that.

Wombat Stu felt his arms reconnect with his body, fusing back to his shoulders. He wanted so badly to move, but the purple electric net cut out of him, latching him to the Super Emerald pillar, the Master Emerald, and to his fellow victims of this mad echidna's machinations.

So this was it, he was going to be turned into an oversized gem for this psychopath's plans? After everything, after leaving the Downunda to fight alongside St. John, after risking being roboticized hundreds of times, after being tossed out of a plane by his own commander, he was going to end up as a pretty piece of glass.

Yellow glass, he saw through his crystallized tears. Hey, just like his fur. Stu mentally giggled. Never to move again, never having to move again. Trapped for eternity, living to see the end of time, just something for this echidna and anyone else to look at, to be admired and examined in every detail.

Stu felt the armor melt away, his body blend into a unified whole. Oh, how the light would shine through him, so beautiful! His body lost its ugly rigid and rough shape as smooth curves washed over her figure.

She arched her back forward, turning away from the ancient echidna, standing on her tiptoes, putting her hands together behind her back, before turning to look coyly in his direction and the direction of anyone else who would ever look her way. She was pleased to see that she elicited some reaction in Riahta's lower body, shriveled and withered with age as it was.

A beautiful yellow light shone from within her, reflecting off her fellow emeralds. They were all so beautiful, for now and forever. How lucky they were.

Bark Polarbear moaned, struggled, and tried to budge his muscles with all of his super-Mobian strength to break free of this web. But his body was now just like his mouth. Silent. How he wished he had gotten more use out of it while he had the chance! Trapped by fate again, just like how he had been trapped by visiting Acorn Kingdom when Robotnik had struck back when Bark had been in his twenties. How he had missed the frozen north, the cold, winds and the beautiful aurora borealis. How now he would never, ever get the chance to see them again.

The room got larger and larger as that jerk echidna took back the power he had given them. And he continued getting smaller as Riahta took even more. It wasn't fair! Jerk!

He'd give him a big bite if he could! A big nasty bite! Sure he was little, but so what! He was also cute enough that no one would blame him! He could get away with any prank it wanted, and no one would blame it. What fun that would be!

It could no longer feel its fingers and toes as it saw red from its anger, and its picture of all the things it could do to the jerk echidna for tricking them all like this! Cherry bomb in his toilet? Sour grapes in his lunch? Maybe oil down his front porch! Yeah! That would be so funny! Hehehehehehe! Its emotion spike ball turned into a little devil icon at the thought. It glowed red at its own clever idea and continued to mentally giggle.

Patricia Porcupine continued to mentally swear revenge at the echidna. This dirty echidna had forced her to betray everything important to her.

The Princess had taken Patricia, Porker and Puck under her care when St. John said they didn't have the experience to fight. But with the princess they had learned. And now everything they were taught had been turned on the teacher. She'd get him for this! Even if it had to be in the next life she'd do it!

But why ruin a good thing? Here she was, with so many nice friends. The harsh details of her armor smoothed over, melting into a more beautiful shape, even her quills softened, joining together, not totally but many together as one, as all of her friends were now. She wouldn't have to spend forever looking like a monster, how very nice of him. How very nice indeed. Maybe she had misjudged Riahta.

She saw her skin had become the same beautiful purple as her spines, as it was supposed to be. She felt so grateful to him. He had restored her to her proper form, after all. The way she was supposed to be. Not that she had ever been anything else anyway. She had always been this way, always been here. She knew nothing else.

She stood as tall as she could, raising her arms over her head as if in an eternal dance she had always been in. Tilting her head back, she closed her eyes that had never been opened, but she could still see. She could see every which way as the Super Order Emerald radiated her light around the room with her sisters as she had since time had begun.

Anna Armadillo knew this was the end. All her life and goals and previous experiences accumulated to nothing. It was pointless to dwell on 'what ifs,' she was doomed and that was that. It could have been anyone who was doomed, and it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. She didn't even struggle as the purple lightning continued to burst out of her body and into everyone and the Master Emerald, she knew it wouldn't have made any difference. She used to have such high hopes and high spirits, but that was before all this. Her sense of right and wrong had been removed so easily, so it was pointless, thus she was pointless. Everything was pointless.

The world got constantly larger as Riahta burned them through just like he promised. Her fingers and toes burned away, then her nose, ears, and fur. Even her tail!

Then again, who was she to judge? Maybe the room really was getting bigger and she wasn't getting smaller, maybe. Then again, maybe she wasn't doomed; maybe someone would rescue her, maybe. Then again, maybe she wasn't pointless, maybe this was her point, maybe. Then again, maybe she looked cuter without all those things, maybe. Her skin looked so much smoother and shinier now, anyway. That was how she perceived it.

Had her skin actually always been turquoise? Or was her memory playing tricks on her and it had been yellow and red before? Or were the lights from everything around her making things look a different color? Maybe.

Who was it to judge? Its emotion dot turned into a question mark. Had it always had an emotion dot? Logically, it had always had one since it had been born, just as the rest of its kind did. Had it always been without a gender? Rationally speaking of course it had not, since the rest of its kind did not. Of course it was reasonable that it had become confused by gendered beings that had trouble understanding the idea of there being no gender and yet still taking two to reproduce, which was unreasonable given their realm of experience, maybe. Who was it to judge?

It calmly observed the turquoise light shinning out of its crystallized form onto the other diverse crystal shapes around it. Maybe someone would come and make it happy before the big bad things happened, maybe. Who was it to judge?

Puck Platypus knew this wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. He hadn't been turned into a monster. He hadn't killed his own teammates, he hadn't killed innocent people, this was all just a delusion! He had suffered a serious head injury and this was all just a nightmare pieced together by his damaged brain! There was no way this could be real, he hadn't asked Anna out yet!

Sonic wouldn't have murdered St. John, and Sonic wouldn't just stand by as his teammates were dying! Therefore, this was not happening! Therefore, this had to be a dream. And if it was a dream, then it had to be his dream. Then he was in charge. That meant he had decided what was happening. What a scary dream. Good thing it was just a dream.

He dreamed his tail rounded out and got smaller and smaller, until it was just a dainty thing, how odd. He dreamed his feet lost their webbing, gained fur, and also became small and dainty, how odd. He dreamed his beak rounded into a muzzle, a dainty muzzle, how odd. He dreamed that his brown fur and feathers, everything, had turned a cobalt shade of blue, how odd. He dreamed his own body was no longer the shape of the monster Anark, how nice.

He dreamed he had nice spines in a ponytail, how odd. He dreamed his hands became as furry and dainty as his feet, how odd. He dreamed his body smoothed over and became a more curved form, how odd. He dreamed Anna was a blue blobby cute thing, how odd.

She dreamed she had once been male, how odd. She dreamed her Chao had once been a woman, and in the dream where she had been a male, she had been in love with her Chao who was a female, how odd. She dreamed she had not always been an echidna, how odd. She dreamed she didn't always have the blue light emitting from her, how odd. She dreamed she had not always been crystal, how very odd. She dreamed she had not always been an Order Emerald, by far the oddest thing dreamt of yet.

She dreamed she had not always been sitting down with her back a quarter view away from the lecherous old echidna, she dreamed she not always been slightly covering her upper womanhood with her hands, she dreamed she had not always been looking over her shoulder at him, how odd. But she knew it was only a dream, and she was beautiful for all to behold, how right.

When Tommy Turtle could no longer yell at Sonic to help him, he instead tried to plead with his eyes. Why was Sonic doing nothing? It wasn't like Sonic, it was never like Sonic. Sonic could no more stand by while friends suffered than resist a plate of chilidogs. So how could Sonic just stand there? It couldn't be fear, Sonic would never let that stop him. A lifetime ago, Tommy had been Sonic's chew toy when the hedgehog cub had been just another shameless prankster with a sadistic streak.

The turtle had been stunned how much Sonic had changed when they caught up years later. And Sonic had actually said that he was sorry for how he had treated the geek.

Now Sonic stood like nothing around him mattered in the slightest, not even paying attention to Tommy or any of the others as Riahta tortured them.

At least he was out of that ugly, ugly monster cocoon. But everything seemed to be getting bigger, or more likely, he was getting smaller, but size doesn't matter so that was okay. After all, sometimes it's the smallest things then turn out to be the most important.

So what if he couldn't move? Sonic would save him, and if not now, then later, and if Sonic wasn't able to save him, someone else would. There was no point in thinking bad things were going to happen, because then you wouldn't be ready for the good things. And if you couldn't hope that the bad things wouldn't work out, then you wouldn't be able to accept it when the good things happened, and you wouldn't be able to enjoy them, and that was no good.

He couldn't see his individual scales anymore, and his skin seemed to be turning white. But when he was rescued, it would turn back to normal and everything would be okay again. And if not, white was a very good color, it went with just about anything, it was calming, and its skin was nice and shiny. So what if it was turning crystal too, it couldn't move right now anyway, so it was no big loss, and if anyone was able to save it and everyone else, it was sure they'd be able to make it not-crystal again. It was pretty sure it had a gender a second ago, and that most of the others around it were the wrong gender or were supposed to have one too, but it didn't mind, boys and girls were equally cool.

Its emotion halo turned into a big bright heart at it optimism. It fluttered its tiny wings as long as it could as its body filled with the white shining light along with the colored lights from the others, confident good would win over in the end.

Bean 'Dynamite' Duck wished for something, anything he could do to stop this, but his body was no longer under his control even as his mind was returned to him. He could only watch as Riahta's magic detonated from within each of them, tearing through them all and into the Master Emerald. Worse, he could do nothing to help his longtime partner in crime, Bark. When the two of them had bumped into each other, at first they couldn't have cared less about each other; there was a free-for-all for the chaos emeralds going on at the time. But when the dust had cleared and both had come up with nothing, with Robotnik's war still in full swing the two had stuck together, which had led to them being more or less drafted into his majesty's royal service. Well, it was either that or to be turned into soulless robots.

Now instead he had ended up a soulless monster, getting his right mind back just in time to suffer being used as an evil sorcerer's expendable spell components! At least the pain was numbing away, though Bean knew that couldn't have been a good thing, not that it mattered what he thought of it, it was still going to be the same.

Where had he gone wrong? Could he have done anything different and not ended up here, and still be Bean? Or was this just his fate? He could see his teammates changing from those horrific armored monster forms, but he couldn't tell if it was back to the way they used to be. He only hoped Princess Sally and Hershey Feline showed up before Riahta could blow up the world and put the lot of them out of their misery.

Bean's bomb feathers returned to normal only long enough to melt into his hide as the green of his feathers was transferred to his skin underneath. Bean could see the green becoming reflective, transparent even, yet at the same time luminous. At least he couldn't see his internal organs in the mess.

He saw some of his friends shrinking as they became different colors. The place didn't get much bigger for him, but he was still able to see his limbs becoming thicker, stubbier, so he guessed this was it. He was about to become a piece of green emerald shaped like a diamond. His only regret was that he couldn't blow himself up and the bad man with him, he always wanted to go out with a blast. A really big boom! One so cool everybody would talk about it! And since it would be to stop such a bad man from doing such bad things, no one would scold him about the mess. Too bad he couldn't.

His thick tail filled out, where had he seen one like it? Claws formed on his hands and feet. Was he turning back into the icky monster? No, this wasn't the monster, this was something cool, something pretty! He knew he wasn't an adult anymore, 'cause he was the same size as the ladies, when he shouda been taller than 'dem! They were all so pretty lookin', though they were echidnas, he hoped he was that pretty when he grew up. He worked the kinks out of his neck and yawned through her cute snout. It must have been naptime, she realized. She curled up, hugging her legs with her arms while her wings folded around her, and went to sleep.

Lightspeed never had any idea how lucky he had been that Riahta had no deep knowledge of Sonic's past, and so didn't know that touching the Master Emerald had left him with his green eyes. The effect had left Sonic's spirit a perfect conductor for the power of the Master and Chaos emeralds, much greater than any of the other Knights could have dreaded to be.

It all came down to how Riahta had not been able to sense the Master Emerald was not in Echidnaopolis. Riahta's power was drawn from the Dark Walkers through the Slave and Order Emeralds. Similar things can sense similar things, and few things are as opposed as Order and Chaos. Had Riahta even the most basic training that the Guardians of this world had, he would have sensed Sonic's potential in an instant and used him in the place of one of the others. He had Chaos' scent on him after all. Riahta had targeted Sonic and his group because they were the most accessible at the time, and the best fighters, the fact that two of them were chosen heroes in major future events of Mobius was just an added bonus.

Thus the reason Riahta had needed to create the Order Knights in the first place, not just as grunts, but as mediums with the trace amounts of chaos in them all sentient beings on this rock had combined with his own power to create the medium he needed to hack into the Master Emerald's heart.

Had Riahta known of the superconductor standing right next to him, the gate would have been opened easily before the interlopers could have ever hoped of interfering, not that this meant there was any real chance of them stopping him anyway!

For the briefest moments all of the Super Order Emeralds could feel it: the Master Emerald, and all it had observed over the eons, both the horrible and the beautiful. Then it was gone; only to come again a moment later, flowing through them both ways, as Riahta pulled out the emerald's power and pushed in his own magic from the reserves inside his Super Order Emeralds. And thus Riahta twisted the web, pulled the strands, and dug into the Master Emerald, finding a couple odd presences buried deep within in sound slumber, heh, much like those spirits that mysteriously slept in the Slave Emerald upon Riahta's real world, as old as echidna history. But Riahta couldn't have cared less! The time had come for the lord of the emeralds to bow to its new master!

The Master Emerald held out as long as it could. On his own Riahta could never have hoped to dominate the Master Emerald, but the sage was not on his own. His seven knives dove into the Master Emerald's heart, striking it like parasites that wrapped their tentacles around imaginary nerve endings, stripping control from the owner to the invader. He had come this far, and he would not be stopped by some puny piece of emerald power battery that dared have a will and mind of its own!

The grinding noise was very audible, and some of the stillborn green crystals of its bed cracked under the pressure, but the Master Emerald was now slowly turning the other way, counterclockwise! Beautiful!

The two remaining Knights stood mindlessly as the purple lightning's arcs moved downward until it entered the pillars and floors, creating a flowing light pattern going down from the Super Order Emeralds into the master of the chaos emeralds. The Master Emerald felt ill and dirty, like one raped in their own bed.

Riahta lay in a meditative position on the floor in front of the pillars and main emerald, enjoying the view of his work and the near fulfillment of his ambitions. His staff was stuck in the techno-organic floor facing him, its mouth and wings still opened and staring back at him with red gems.

It likely would have killed Riahta from exertion to stand up. He was looping the reserves in the Super Order Emeralds through himself to keep his body breathing and his heart beating. The real reason he had kept Lightspeed and Mourning Star around instead of magically fusing them with two of the other Order Knights to add more punch to the process was that his body was now totally helpless, even a cub with a butter knife would have been able to slay him and derail all he had worked for. He needed his two last warriors for protection. He had kept two instead of one because he had already seen his creation's survival record and would take no chances this time.

With his masterpieces keeping him at ease, and their back batteries powering his summon spell, Riahta worked like a master, twisting the powers of chaos and order, playing each to his advantage like he did everything in his life. With dauntlessness like a maggot worming through living flesh Riahta, using the focus and intensity of a needle through a child's eye, began to violate the sacred and holy border that kept the different possible facets of the material universe separate lest madness descend upon them all.

And with full knowledge of the possible collateral damage done to many innocent by-standing realities just by the attempt alone, Riahta dared not to simply slip through the threads as travelers between realities had always done, but to _tear_ open the veil itself!

Riahta's recklessness forced the tear open impossibly fast; going from an atom-thick cut to a full sized nanometer and beyond in a matter of moments, the curve ratio growing at a dangerously fast speed as the hole widened. A nearly invisible thread of perfectly straight light rose up from the top of the Master Emerald and into the hole beyond.

Past the violated holy barrier, on a painted black mirror, the Slave Emerald smelled a power that could keep itself going for a marginal amount of time more before it flickered out and died at last, and began to greedily pull at it, helping the process along even faster.

For the Master Emerald, it was like having its soul sucked through a straw with a width smaller than a millimeter, and tugged along for the ride while being strapped to a boulder. Oh no, this echidna couldn't possibly be insane or desperate enough to try _this_ could he? The Master Emerald tried to convey the sheer madness of what the fool echidna was doing to Riahta, but this one's spiritual ears were as good as deaf, drowned out long ago by whispers from the depths of the supernatural black muck.

Riahta's eyes widened in greed as the line of light became as thick as a terran hair. Yes, yes, here it came, at last, infinite wealth and power inching closer and closer to him with open arms ready to embrace him!

However nothing was ever perfect, and Riahta sensed the coming of idiots who thought so arrogantly high of themselves that they believed they had the right to stop these grand proceedings; too bad for them, hooray for the gene pool. It was time to do what all great leaders in the history of all worlds of all realities had done, and help natural selection take it's proper course.

"Go!" Riahta barked at Mourning Star, not moving any part of his body other than his mouth. "Greet our unwanted guests." Riahta could feel them now as the Dark Fortress continued to violate the Hidden Palace. "Make sure that they all lie dead."

Riahta made Mourning Star say, "Yes my lord." It should have been weird talking to himself, but Riahta loved seeing the image of this child doing only as he commanded, with no will of her own whatsoever other than his own. It was nearly orgasmic, having complete control of his creature's body and mind. This beautiful little puppet. _His_ puppet. All those years of not being able to kill her, having to take her petty insults when he could have crushed her empty head like a grape! Now to finally have payback, even by proxy, was soooooo _sweet_! While this Julie-Su had done him no wrong, he found that he really couldn't bring himself to care about the difference, nor did he care to.

Mourning Star, with Riahta in the driver's seat, flew off through the tunnels of the Emerald Chamber of which the Freedom Fighters had to come down in order to reach the evil wizard. Riahta directed the puppet's direction right to where the captured part of the palace reluctantly reported their ETA.

Riahta looked at Lightspeed. The Knight showed no reaction to having seen the utter betrayal, final violation, and discarding along with Riahta's own verbal confession to betrayal to Lightspeed's fellows. Only when Riahta finally spoke to him directly again did Lightspeed snap out of his endless idle thinking. He saw the final fate of his teammates, betrayed for the second time, and made absolutely no fuss about it. The thought did not even cross his mind. "You stay here in case she fails."

"K', dude," Lightspeed said casually, and began to think on how to extract revenge on Sally and Amy for Tempest's murder instead of the source of chilidog meat as he had been in the middle of a deep mental self-discussion about. The two ladies would be lucky if their body parts would be still distinguishable from chili sauce when Lightspeed was through with them.

And the gate continued to widen ever so slowly and ever so faster.

Riahta, and thus neither Lightspeed nor Mourning Star took even the slightest notice of the violent tremors that continued to shake the internally gangrened palace to its foundations.

And in darkness beyond dark, wicked things' mouths watered at the prospect of the suffering to come.

…

While for most this was their first visit to this beautiful place, as the ladies, kit, and Guardian raced against time to the Master Emerald chamber, they saw they were too late to prevent Riahta from desecrating these holy grounds, The Vengence consuming it all. Sally remembered being broken and delusional the last time she had been here. Knuckles remembered dying. Tails…remembered Tempest, and thus felt the worst of the unnatural chills.

Hershey wondered how many more times she was going to surprised by her own emotional reaction before her part in this conflict was over. She was amazed at her disgust as seeing the black and red mass creeping through the cobalt stone and twisting itself around the stones that made up the palace, and the mosaics bled into, twisted, and made abject mockeries of their true purpose. This was not right!

Knuckles would have agreed with her wholeheartedly. The echidna wondered how someone he had already promised to kill horribly could continue to anger him with newer and newer levels of degeneracy.

And while Sally too felt outrage at this crime, it was still just icing on the cake for what Riahta had dared do to Sonic and Tails.

In perfect imitation of her idol, Amy managed to give up a few choice words. "Ug-ly! The sooner we kick out these house-crashers and clean up their droppings the better!"

Once Sally would have thought Amy was just being thick and childish, but now, having touched Amy's soul, Sally saw Amy was just aiming for what Sonic would have done, like he had tried to do when Sally had set out the battle plans for their assassination of Robotnik: take away the tension from the situation, lighten the heart ever so slightly, and bring them all back into focus.

"Good idea Amy," Sally agreed with a double meaning.

Hershey had her own words to add. "The monster is first come, first serve, first one to get a kill shot, do it!"

"With pleasure," Amy said for everyone.

"Any surprises from that stuff we should know about?" Hershey asked about the black mass to Tails.

Tails searched his memory. "No, I don't think so, it might look frightening but it's harmless, it's programmed to assimilate the palace, not us, we're not important enough."

"Let's show them how wrong they are!" Amy battle cried, she would have fired a crossbow bolt at the black robo-sludge, but she couldn't waste the arrows. Instead she just charged head first across it, not getting even the slightest reaction out of it. She might have been insulted if she didn't have more important things to do.

"Our sentiments exactly!" Sally declared following suit, as did the others. "We don't know what Riahta's been storing up for the last act so be ready for anything!"

"I've fought mages before," Tails said. "Make a distraction first then get in close; if you keep him at a melee range he won't be able to make hand gestures or get the proper inflection and pacing for his spell words. The most dangerous part is when he'll try to kill us at a distance."

A time honored strategy, Sally remembered. "Agreed."

Knuckles slammed his fists together. "Leave the bogus Athair to me, this is my home too and I'm sick of people waltzing in here and taking MY Master Emerald like it's a door prize."

"Which will leave us with Sonic and the others," Sally said. Tails prayed he only imagined that Sally meant 'us' as in her and the sword against all of Riahta's creations.

Knuckles felt something, someone, important very close, and this odd noise at the very base of his acute hearing. Oh no! "Down!" Knuckles, who thank all the gods and goddesses had been lagging a little behind, surveying the damage done to his place of worship, tackled the others to the rough ground in an instant, resulting in many nasty cuts and bruises. Not a second after he did an invisible wave of force passed over them, tearing apart the black mass and cobalt stone on the walls underneath by sound alone!

Any words of outrage died in the Freedom Fighter's throats when they realized a second later that Knuckles had just saved all of their lives. Two seconds later a hot red and pink dragon came screaming down the violated palace hall, wings spread out as best they could be in the enclosed space.

Knuckles was silently grateful that Julie clearly had to obey the rules about dragons not being able to use their breath weapons consecutively or she would have used her attack again at a different angle. Knuckles didn't dare say his relief out loud and tempt fate again with the dragon.

The dragon tried to crush all their prone bodies with her armored mass, but Tails was no green fighter and grabbed Amy's arm in half a second, and helicopter-blasted his tails horizontally backwards, bringing them clear of the impact and the dragon's jaw snaps a moment later.

Knuckles was surprised that he didn't need to grab Sally when the princess not only managed to get herself out of the way in time but was able to yank Hershey from a brief, simply, easy, and meaningless death.

Mourning Star stood before them on all fours like a wild feral beast. Her position reminded Sally of dragons of ages past, unevolved vain savage creatures as distantly related to their modern descendants as Sally was to the mindless animals jumping from branch to branch in Knothole or hunting unintelligent mice in the high grass. It had been odd, though interesting, watching them change from what they were into the rational beings that now flew through the skies.

Her wingspan filling up the hallway that under the twisted light could be seen as an ancient cave added to the imposing effect all too well. Beyond lay her horde and the brave adventurers would have to get past the fierce wyrm if they ever hoped of battling the evil sorcerer who sought to unleash the dark force upon the world. And she was going to fight them for every inch they dared try to take, not stopping until either they stopped forevermore, or they made her stop. In her eyes lay now a savagery that would give nor ask for any quarter. They would have to give everything they had to defeat this guardian, the adopted child of Tiamat, which they couldn't afford to do with Riahta waiting right behind. They didn't have time for a boss battle, and Knuckles knew it.

"You all go and kill Riahta," Knuckles shouted. "I'll keep Julie busy in the meantime."

Sally hated heroic deaths. "Knuckles! You and your father together had to fight her before; on your own is throwing your life away!" All things forgiven or forgotten, he was still her friend, the first one she had ever made.

Knuckles' fists turned into little balls of flame. "I won't hold back this time! And you said so yourself, we don't have time to argue! Get going!"

Mourning Star snarled with impressive new grammar skills which were decidedly not Julie's. "None of you are getting any closer!"

Knuckles dove under her armored front, and with a Herculean yell double-hammer uppercutted into her breadbasket, the force of the impact enough to send her clean into the high ceiling. Tiny bits of black matter and blue palace fell downward. Another violet tremor shook the palace.

"Your date is with me Julie, remember?!" Knuckles yelled at the violated love of his life.

Sally ordered, "Go, go, go!"

The Freedom Fighters ran underneath the dragon and past Knuckles, taking advantage of her precious few seconds of dizziness. Sally didn't wish Knuckles luck he wouldn't have taken it. Knuckles was never one to believe in luck, ever.

Mourning Star dislodged herself from the ceiling and leaped from her position at the progressing heroes, claws and fangs bared. Knuckles used a quickly created updraft (not caring how he suddenly could) and his spines and caught the dragon by the tail. Landing and being dragged for not even a moment along the ground, Knuckles heaved and slammed the dragon backwards, leaving an identical imprint of herself on the floor like the one on the ceiling.

"We're not done yet!" Knuckles reminded her as the heroes quickly vanished from view down the hallways towards the Emerald Chamber.

Mourning Star snapped her tail forward to toss Knuckles into her waiting jaws, but got a spiked first on the snout for her troubles, disorienting her again. The dragon quickly righted herself and made a combination of claws and bites at the echidna, her wings being of limited use in the hallway.

And while Knuckles had said it, for Sally it was clear as day, Knuckles wanted to make up for his behavior towards Amy after Julie's kidnapping and his mistakes during the battle to protect Tails. Even if it was only to himself, he had a duty now to prove he truly was worthy to be called Guardian, and more importantly that Julie was right to love him.

And so, Knuckles fought with a ferocity he had before reserved only for Sonic and Kragok. He dove into the fire, not letting up for a moment, unlocking the wild side of himself that had grown and evolved as he had grown up in that jungle with no one beside him, all alone.

Mourning Star attacked with an equal savagery, determined to reduce her love to bloody shreds and to feast on his innards. It would take time for her breath weapon to regain its strength, but when it did, she would kill him.

However the dragon tried repeatedly to break from the fight and go after the larger group of targets, but Knuckles wouldn't let her, Knuckles would _not_ allow it! This fight was between the two of them and no one else. There would be no moment of surprise followed by a Sunday punch here. This time, the two of them would fight with only skill and ability, one with choices his own, one with choices completely not her own. Yet still thinking of his teammates and friends, Knuckles continued to lead the fight further and further away from the heroes, hoping that they would be able to kill Riahta without him, and bring Julie back to him. And if not, he would move heaven and earth to bring her back _himself_!

So through levels and walls they went, the holy place of Hidden Palace degenerating to just another petty battleground.

History, art, beauty, all pushed to the wayside in the name of petty and shallow violence! And for one terrible moment, if one was to gaze into the animalistic look in their eyes, you couldn't have been able to tell the difference between them.

The Guardians of course sensed the vicious battle, but could do nothing, if Lava Reef was not kept under control, then victory or defeat, Angel Island would die. And even Hidden Palace itself was secondary to this cause, as was their duty. And the Palace too accepted this truth, as was its duty. If one did not have duty, what was one's self?

...

When Enerjak had become Dimitri again after his chaos powers were stolen by Mammoth Mogul, the doctors had been in quite the rush to save Dimitri's dying body from giving up the ghost. They had taken cybernetics from anywhere they could grab, none of them symmetrical, resulting in him looking like a nightmarish fusion of a machine mishmash and a hodgepodge. In spite of his body's ugly appearance, Dimitri's only piece of vanity was three strings of metal beads that ran down one of his cheeks below the eye, his still living one, to make up for the fact that all of his dread locks were now robotic.

In spite of his existence, Dimtri had to keep living, he had seen, due to the state the cult founded in his name by his son was in, that he couldn't truly trust any of his descendants with the task of leading his people down the right path. Or that was what he had told himself when he had decided not to pull his own plug when no one was watching.

Now Dimtri wondered, if only for a moment, that his hope to restore his people their technological status, in spite of the fear of machines that he perhaps had unwittingly sown when he had attempted to rejoin Angel Island with the surface of Mobius, was nothing but a fool's errand. Was there any hope at all? Or would this fear of knowledge stunt his race's growth for all their time?

He had wanted to restore Angel Island to the surface so they could begin to live again as Aurora had intended: among her other children. Instead he had only widened the gap, and he himself had become the devil (by any other name) Enerjak. (Stupid design bug in the Chaos Siphon.) He had hated his brother for stopping him, and the rest of his family so long afterwards for preventing him from being judge and jury on not only their own people but on all people's.

Then he had fallen, not to a hero, not to an army, not to a pure innocent, but to a creature of even greater age, even greater madness, and even blinder greed. Mammoth Mogul. Master Mogul the Mad, who had used the stillborn chaos emerald in his heart to keep himself ageless for centuries, eons if his crazed boasts were to be believed. And using the stolen Sword of Acorns, the demigod Enerjak, had again become simply Dimitri, a scientist cursed to have his good intentions always thrown back in his face. And Mogul had stood on the verge of achieving his goal for having a station among the gods themselves. Heh.

And then Mogul was vanquished: by one outsider, a member of the family Enerjak had grown to hate, and ultimately one kitsune child.

He looked at the selfish creature that was genetically related to him. He had to know for sure what he was planning was the only course of action, otherwise it would just be his final mistake in a long line of mistakes.

He asked his question out of the blue, calmly, and politely. "Tell me Lien-Da, do you know why I tried to slowly drain power from the Master Emerald so the island could rejoin with the surface?"

Lien-Da was a little stunned by her ancestor's rather odd question, maybe brain deterioration had finally set in. (She could only hope.) "I...for power?"

He was disappointed but not surprised. "Because I knew there was no such thing as the self-contained society, not really. A person evolves through interaction with others, a society can be much the same way, and those who do not evolve, die."

Lien-Da looked like Dimitri had just called all echidnas everywhere crack-sniffers. "We don't _need_ anyone. The point of restoring our technological status is to show the rest of this backwater world that."

Dimtri had to know for sure. But it still never ceased to frustrate him how someone could look at the world and see a totally fabricated truth. "The point of restoring our technological status is that we can't pretend that you can somehow hold back progress, that you can somehow freeze time."

Lien-Da knew he had to be out of his gourd, if only the rest of the family would see that too! "If only you could still be in your glory days!"

"My glory days, ah yes." When Emerald Madness, the result of absorbing too much chaos energy too fast, had driven him stark raving mad. He had spent so long as a living chaos emerald, thinking he was a divine being, the chaos force making him immortal for centuries, until the eons-old villain Mammoth Mogul had taken every last ounce of it with the stolen Sword of Acorns (what became of the weapon since that moment was unknown to Dimitri), shortly before the legendary battle between the mastermind, Dimitri's descendant Knuckles, and the two non-echidnas Sonic and Tails. In the shadow of this grand battle Dimitri was left for dead, feeling his real age of several hundred years with his power gone. If not for the cult, founded apparently by his son after Dimitri's 'death', Dimitri would be dead now. Though he wondered if he could be called alive now. Vital organs and secondary organs, arms, legs, all replaced. All that was really left of him was one natural eye, his brain and his spinal cord. But Dimitri could feel it. He knew. Somehow all that was left of his real body just knew it was coming to a close. He had been on borrowed time since the chaos force left him, and now that time was nearly up. And the idea of leaving it all to Lien-Da was unbearable. He knew he would be writing the Legion's death sentence if he died with her as his heir. Maybe the Legion deserved to die. Or maybe the legion deserved to be reborn. But Lien-Da was not that one. Nor were any of his other family members within the Legion. And the Guardians would sooner see him and the whole of 'his' followers dead.

Maybe, no, not maybe, decidedly! Decidedly, it was time, to take one last gamble in his life before he finally let it end: the gamble that would decide the fate of his people, perhaps forever. If he could have put this decision off for any amount of time he would have. But he couldn't. The time was drawing near. He needed to decide now, and call upon his one child, his one descendant, that he could trust to carry out the dream of echidnas finally tossing aside the fear of creativity.

He needed to time this properly; he couldn't allow Lien-Da to play any countermoves, it had to be in one move, one stroke, otherwise she would figure a way to play it to her advantage, like she always did.

Not this time. Or ever again. This ghost of a man had one act he needed to before he left the stage. 'Heh. Enough long winded internal monologues Dimirti, just do it already!' And so the dying cyborg began, right under the nose of the creature that had once been a kind and loving descendant/daughter. Poor Lien-Da, he could only wonder how else she might have turned out.

...

In spite of himself Knuckles stayed on task enough to lead Mourning Star further and further away from the Emerald Chamber. While it could have been part of Riahta's designs to perhaps lure Knuckles away from the final fight, thus cutting down on the number of chaos users the wicked sage would have to fight, Knuckles wasn't greatly concerned by the possibility.

And in spite of having no 'self' at the moment, as Mourning Star was lead away from her post, the fixation of killing Knuckles became the driving force in her gutted-out spirit.

The dragon dug its front talons into the cobalt floor and flipped its powerful hind claws forward into the ground, which would have shattered Knuckles' body from the sandwiching force had it connected. Knuckles managed to shift his body sideways and instead only felt the bits of stone shattered from the floor by the mighty blow pierce his skin. However, the sidestep landed him straight into Mourning Star's tail, which sent him flying into a wall that Knuckles swiftly punched through to avoid the impact. Not waiting for the dust to clear, Mourning Star leapt after him, and found her head sandwiched between two pieces of liberated wall connected to Knuckles' fist spikes. The 'bread' broke apart and Mourning Star went flying out of control, going over the edge of the platform rising around Hidden Palace to the stalagmites below. But the dragon regained its senses in time and flew back upwards, not even going back over the edge but right through the floor to where she felt Knuckles was, but Knuckles felt her coming too and sidestepped the jaws as they burst through the ground, followed by her skull and neck. The Guardian took advantage of the miss, and jackhammered her throat as she came up, damaging her windpipe and vocal cords and weakening the effectiveness of her breath attack if she got a chance to use it again.

The rest of the dragon burst through a moment later, smashing open the floor and throwing Knuckles off balance long enough for Mourning Star to grab him with both claws and began to crush him. Knuckles ignited his fists and punched the monster's talons, the pain forcing the beast to let him go solely on involuntary reaction alone.

Was it Knuckles' imagination or was Julie larger than before?

Mourning Star tried to bite him again, but the Guardian managed to grab her jaws at the last instant and, using his arm muscles, flipped onto her head and ran down her back, leaping off before her tail could smack him again. However, now in free space, her wings could come back to bear again, but Knuckles managed to land both his feet on the wings as they came around. It didn't break the membrane, but it did give Knuckles the controlled distance he needed, not that it would last for long.

Knuckles' conscious mind finally registered that they had fought clean out of the palace and out to the cavern that surrounded the holy place. Good.

Mourning Star didn't leave time for reflection however and bounded after the Guardian on all fours headfirst to lure him into grabbing her horns, then proceed to smash him through the floor and onto the spiked rocks below, not really thinking if she herself would survive or not. Knuckles however created another updraft and instead took to the air again, and Mourning Star without missing a beat took wing after him.

Knuckles dodged the jaws once again and took her by the neck. Mourning Star's claws came at him from both directions but he let go just in time, feeling them nick his arms as they accidentally clinked against her own neck. Articulately manipulating his spines, Knuckles glided onto the next level of supported floors and flying buttresses of Hidden Palace on the ledges of one of its walls. Not missing a beat Knuckles climbed up the side, creating handholds as fast as he used them with his namesakes. Mourning Star's claws and talons pierced the wall Knuckles had been standing on a heartbeat before and began to climb after him; fangs chomping down far too close for comfort on his rump. Taking advantage of his natural talents, Knuckles actually zigzagged up the side of the palace, infuriating his transformed lover. Mourning Star's size and mass actually slowed her down, she was so focused on perusing Knuckles it didn't occur to her to just fly up and come down at him.

Mourning Star's wings smashed against edges and balconies in her mad pursuit, leaving a trail of damage on the Palace's side. Not to say Knuckles was miles ahead of her, as her bites continued to come too close for comfort, he just hoped he still had a tail left by the time the fight was over.

Knowing the palace would understand, Knuckles began to kick with a vengeance against the palace walls as he climbed up, making them crumble under his touch and slow down Mourning Star's chase. He had to keep her distracted, fixated on him. Give the others time needed to fight Riahta and his other cronies. It would be the five of them against nine monsters, counting Riahta. He just hoped Bunnie's theory held true about the Knights losing strength and Riahta would be more fixated on his hocus pocus rather than fighting Sally's group. And that the combined effort of Tails and Sally would be enough to finally break Sonic out of Riahta's brainwashing.

Knuckles leaped from the side of the palace to a pillar hanging from a flying buttress, to which Mourning Star instantly followed. Knuckles had already smashed the top of the pillar's connected point by the time she got there and quickly leaped off, making it fall down and down to the cold hard floor below taking Mourning Star with it.

The dragon of course let go, but had already lost a couple stories on Knuckles, but she was quick to make up for them by at last just flying rather than climbing. She smashed through the flying buttress that Knuckles was running on, disconnecting it from the palace and sending Knuckles downward. The Guardian was barely able to generate an updraft in time to glide again. Knuckles dodged her bites and claws to land right between her waiting legs that began to crush the life out of him, his arms caught underneath. Using his jackhammer style attack with his legs, he repeatedly stomp-kicked her in the gut, weakening her grip just long enough to squeeze through. Ugh! She had cracked some of his ribs!

Blocking out the pain, as he had learned with his broken bones in the jungle, Knuckles forced his spines to open despite the pain from his muscles pulling on his chest bones. Using the wind from Mourning Star's beating wings, Knuckles corkscrewed up further and further before landing on the side of the palace again near the peak of Hidden Palace, and managed to pull himself onto the top moments before Mourning Star did as well. She was on top of him, and he was on his hands and knees. She breathed in deep and tilted her head back to tear the flesh from his bones with her breath weapon.

Knuckles snarled, both his fists punching into Julie's chest covered in an aura of fire. The inexperienced fighter on occasion will fall for the same move twice. The experienced fighter will not. But when an experienced fighter fights another experienced fighter, they know better than to expect the same move twice, if they know their fighter is an experienced one, but know inexperienced fighters are likely to repeat themselves. Thus, Mourning Star didn't' expect Knuckles to use his flaming fists on her in the same manner again. Plus, lame duck was never Knuckles' style. Thus why it had occurred to the animal part of Knuckles' brain.

But Knuckles didn't stop like he had before, he kept the heat turned up, and summoned the strongest updraft he could combined with his own super echidna strength, and leapt with all the force his body could muster, likely pushing both his and the dragon's ribs out of place. Like a red comet, Knuckles rocketed upwards, taking Mourning Star with him, missing the giant stalactites and instead hitting the ceiling itself, and still not stopping from the stone-cold impact. His fire-resistant glove darkened and the top burned away from the heat, revealing his fist spikes. Mourning Star's eyes were filled with pain as the cheap shot caught her in a silent scream. The blue stone around them turned red, and finally …

The surface exploded, sending stone, grass, and dirt everywhere, scattered as far as the green clearing went. Mourning Star skidded across the turf for several meters until being stopped painfully by a grassy knoll. Knuckles lay on top of her. 'Damn did that hurt!' the echidna thought.

Mourning Star moaned as she slowly began the process of returning to her senses. Knuckles got away from her as fast he could, which wasn't much. He saw at least he had managed to break one of her wings; the other didn't look so cool either. He could see the gaping cracks in her armored scales that he had made, red blood slowly coming down her front.

But she was still coming around! Even as a dragonoid monster she refused to stay down.

If this hasn't been a life or death fight, Knuckles would have had the time to find her semi-sleeping shape alluring. No such luck right now though. As the dragon continued struggling to get its body moving again and its senses to tell it what was going on, Knuckles sat down in a meditative stance.

Should he just run now and join the others? Or continue to battle with Julie? She would just come after him as soon as she woke up, and he had nothing to bind her with, and she would wake up the moment he tried to break her limbs.

And he couldn't kill her. He refused to. She was a victim, and she was his Julie, so like Amy and Sally he would not kill the one he loved.

If the girl could free the one dear to her, then so could he. But what did he have left to fight with?

It was funny, he just remembered this field, it was where his dad had vanished into thin air, and Knuckles' young mind had assumed this meant his dad was dead. He had been away from the civilized world for so long, it was amazing how fast he learned to read and write at an adult level when Echidnaopolis revealed itself to him. Now he knew why.

This jungle, these wilds, it was no secret that Knuckles saw this untamed part of the island as more his home than Echidnaopolis, even more so than Hidden Palace in it's own way. He loved his people, and would fight to the death for them, and would never ask them to give up their world to suit his. But this place, it always called to him, as if this was where he belonged.

If not for finding his mom, he might have remained in the jungle to this day.

At least if he was going to die, it would be by the hands of his dearest, and in his own element. His soul would go to the hereafter, and his bones would degrade back into the dirt and dust, his final unity with nature. There was nothing more he could ask for.

Wait, what had Athair said? When Athair told Sally how he had played Knuckles like a violin?

'Use my brains, reverse psychology? Gramps, you sly anteater!' Knuckles actually gently whacked himself on the head a few times for not seeing it sooner.

Leave it to Athair to create a puzzle Knuckles wouldn't solve until just when he needed to. Athair had said for Knuckles to use his brains and not just his instincts, but at the same time had just gone into a speech about how contradictive Knuckles was.

Knuckles knew if Athair had just told Knuckles to trust only his instincts he would have just used his head, not a bad thing, but not the right strategy here, and if Athair had said for Knuckles to use his head, Knuckles would have dove into his animal side and not come out, like he had been close to doing this entire fight.

He would use his instincts and wits, but he would do it his way, which Knuckles knew beyond a doubt was exactly what Athair had planned for the lad to do from the start. This one time, Knuckles would listen.

The dragon had fallen forward on all fours, still moaning from the damage done to it and its precious wings. Knuckles calmly stood up as the dragon worked the kinks out of its body.

Knuckles tossed off his gloves, followed by his steeltoed boots. If Julie were in her right mind, she would have called him 'jungle boy.' His feet didn't complain in the slightest, his hands weren't the only parts of his body built like the head of a hammer.

Knuckles went into a horse stance, his hands not in fists like usual but in a grasping shape.

Knuckles let himself go. He felt the chaos force flowing through him. He opened his senses to everything around him, not just Julie. He was the Guardian of the Master Emerald, protector of Angel Island, Knuckles of the wild, and child of Lara-Le and Locke: he was all these things.

Knuckles saw that Julie had gotten her second wind. Though her body had been warped and encased in armor, he could still see every muscle tense before it moved, so he had plenty of time to dodge her flying leap, shuffling not to the side but underground like a mole at super-echidna speed. Mourning Star's prepared action of slashing at the air where Knuckles would have dodged if he had jumped was wasted.

Mourning Star turned around, knowing Knuckles would jump out of the ground behind her, only to have Knuckles pop out of the same hole he had gone down in! The Guardian caught the dragon by the tail and gave her yet another backwards flip into the ground. She swatted her tail and chomped at where he would land but again got only air, Knuckles had gone down again! She brought her neck down that hole in hopes of biting him in half, and smashed her tail where he would come up from behind, but got side-kicked in the hindquarters! Knuckles had surfaced not from behind but from the side!

Knuckles felt the damaged ribs cut into his flesh but didn't care. The dragon tore its head out of the earth and swung its body's weapons in all directions, ignoring the greater damage it was inflicting on its own wings. But Knuckles had taken to the air above her just after delivering his attack and now came down with an elbow strike to her back. The dragon's frustration grew by the second, and she began to slash and bite blindly. Mourning Star couldn't hope to predict Knuckles' moves now.

"Julie, stop this!" The dragon just roared. "I know you're in there somewhere! I just need to find you!" There had to be a way into Julie's soul. A way to find her among the lies and illusions Riahta had built around her spirit. But something wasn't right.

Knuckles sensed Mourning Star's aura, and it was strange, it wasn't a perversion of Julie's aura like Lightspeed and Tempest's had been, it was like someone else was with her. It wasn't a superimposed personality, more like…the shadow of someone else's soul? But why did it seem familiar?

Of course!

Knuckles took a step back. "You're possessed."

The dragon restrained itself and spoke in a perfectly calm voice, finally standing on two legs again. "Yes, I am the Sage of the Dark Walkers." Her voice became even more twisted. "The great Riahta!"

Knuckles couldn't stand this monster's spirit inside Julie's body!! "Well get ready to leave! Julie! You left the Legion because you were done being controlled by others! Now Riahta is playing you like a puppet! Show him the door!"

"It's no use Knuckles, she cannot hear you. I control her body's every move."

"Liar."

"It doesn't matter." Riahta pointed, Knuckles looked that way with one eye. There was a thin line of light, perhaps as thick as a piece of rope, rising out of the ground that he only noticed now. It seemed to end in an upside down outline of the Master Emerald just above the treetops. "My power returns to me with every moment … As so." Julie's body burst into gold flames, becoming golden itself, all the damage on its body repairing itself. The rope of light flickered for a moment but remained. "Remember when I used this power on my pawns before? But this one won't burn out. You can't win."

"I'll do whatever it takes to save Julie you withered old corpse!"

"What chance do you really have? You're nothing but a toy to entertain myself with until my masters arrive, you live by my will alone. Just like your precious pet. With the slightest push, I will destroy you, and only kill you when your broken body beholds my masters' arrival. And when I kill you, I think I'll preserve her as my plaything, and her soul will be trapped in this world so you can never be reunited. That way you can spend eternity, alone."

Knuckles had stopped listening after the first sentence. What chance did he really have? What were the odds? Could he win? Did he stand a chance? Was there a point to this fight? Was Julie lost to him? Knuckles didn't notice the air begin to heat around him.

He didn't care how low the odds were. There was always a chance. And there was only no point, if he gave up. And if Julie was lost, he'd just find her again.

He knew Julie would never give up, and neither would he. He wouldn't lose her! He refused to! He was the Guardian, and he would protect what was most important to him.

Knuckles saw it again, just like he did in Knothole. The red chaos emerald appeared, for just a moment, before his mind's eye. Abruptly it shattered, releasing the power within. And in a flash, the red flame burst from Knuckles' core. Knuckles yelled as the power filled him and the crimson shockwave shook the battlefield. His no longer wielded the inferno he _was_ the inferno.

He looked at the monster. "Get ready! Because this is going to be our first and final battle Riahta!"

Riahta rose off the ground, not even flapping his wings. "Heh, very well then, let's put this to rest."

Knuckles wasn't impressed. "You want it, you got it! It's time to say good-bye Riahta!"

Riahta was rather amused. "Ha! If I've learned anything since coming here, it's that all the inhabitants of this reverse universe are nothing but weak-stomached cowards! You don't have the courage to kill your love doll even if I'm pulling the strings!"

"Who said anything about killing her you animal pig?" Knuckles wouldn't let his fear tell him what to do, he had a stronger connection to Julie than this wart could ever hope to imagine.

...

Robotnik had been stopped, the Master Emerald was back where it belonged, and the mechalomaniac's mark was slowly being removed from the island. And so it was time for the Freedom Fighters, including Sally, to go home.

"I guess this is where we say good-bye again," Sally said to him. After Robotnik's war had started, it had been ages since they had seen each other. It might be years before their paths crossed again.

Knuckles had to comfort her somehow. "Don't worry Sally, I won't have changed."

Sally's expression changed. "That's the problem!" With that, she boarded the flying machine and left, leaving Knuckles there with a confused and dumbfounded look on his face.

Julie's voice rang through the hangar. "And what was that about?"

Knuckles moaned. "Doesn't anybody introduce themselves when they come into a room anymore?"

"Only when they don't eavesdrop on the discussions because they feel like it, so what was that about?" Ever since getting Julie her pardon, part of the agreement for her freedom was that Knuckles was to watch her like a hawk. But it seemed like she was the one doing all the watching.

"I just thought… why? Why should staying the same be wrong? She liked me the way I was before, why shouldn't she now?" Knuckles didn't want to admit it, but Sally had changed since they had last met, and he wasn't sure if he liked it.

"I asked why you said that to her, not what you felt like when she threw it back in your face Knuckles."

"… I thought she'd be worried that we wouldn't see each other again. That … I don't know! I felt like I had to say something! Or she'd think I was a jerk!" he said, clearly frustrated.

Julie cocked her head. "What does it matter what she thinks?"

"She's my friend! That's what! The happy memories of my short time with her were one of the few things that kept me going when I was alone after dad died! In a way she saved me!"

Julie shrugged, unmoved. "And there she goes, poof, out of your life and world and back to her own. Let her go."

"How can you just say that, you don't even know her!" Knuckles said angrily.

"Maybe not but I know you pal! You can't take part in her war, so don't act like you can be together. Your dad's history, unless of course you think the whole Guardian gig is outdated."

Knuckles sagged. "No I don't. But that doesn't make this feel any better."

"Get over it. You've got enough to worry about without adding her to your list of troubles."

"I'd put you at the top of that list!" he snapped.

She frowned. "Is that so!"

"Yes so! You say you're through with the Legion but you keep saying the techno taboo is stupid. You know how hard it is to convince Remington you're not a spy?"

She glared at him. "I let go of the Legion because they're all a bunch of nut jobs, but that doesn't mean I had to let go of what I believe in! And if I was a spy, would I be blabbing about how much I think echidnas need to change?"

Knuckled growled. "Besides your Legion, we haven't had a war in centuries. I say why screw with what works?"

"Because it works wrong!" she yelled in his face.

"Says you!"

"Yes me! And I think if you stopped looking through that tiny point of view of yours once in a while you'd see my point!"

"I could say the same thing about you lady! You can't go anywhere without saying 'Oh! How better this would be if it had transistors in it!' Can't you just say 'Does this make me look fat' like a normal girl?"

Julie tried to slap him, but Knuckles caught it, she tried to knee him in the gut, but he blocked that too. "If you wanna spar there's plenty of time for that later."

"Fighting and parroting propaganda is the only things you're good at!" she shouted at him.

"I know you are but what am I?" he sneered.

"How mature!"

"At least I know the meaning of the word!" he shot back.

"I'm surprised you know the meaning of any words Tarzan!"

"Don't you ever call me that again!"

"I'll call you whatever I feel like! It's a free island!"

"Do you have respect for anyone other than yourself?!"

"Show me someone worth respecting and I will!"

"I would if you ever looked anywhere other than through the sights of a gun!"

"Don't talk to me like I'm some kind of psychopath!"

"Given your job record it's kinda hard!"

Julie stopped talking, gave him the worst look imaginable, and stomped out of the hangar. Remington would find her and deposit her back in her apartment near Knuckles' soon enough. Then she would come into his room, just remembering to knock, and ask him what he was doing tonight and if they could spar and see a movie.

In the meantime, Knuckles was still in the hangar, trying to figure her out and aware of how woefully unexperienced he was when it came to women. "What is the deal with her anyway?"

"Ever hear of the Soul Touch my boy?" An aged sly voice said.

Knuckles couldn't believe how he had gotten used to his great grandpa's weird magic act so fast. "The what?"

Athair rolled his eyes. "Oy! The things they don't teach kids in school these days. In a sane world your mother would have told you this when you turned thirteen. Soul Touch: the semi-metaphysical bond between a male and female echidna resulting from close proximity to an ideal mate."

Knuckles gave him a blank look. "Say that again?"

Athair smiled as gleefully as if he had just won the lottery. "It's Mother Nature's way of making sure us echidna actually carry on the species in spite of us being such a bunch of self centered jerks!"

Knuckles stared at him. "I can't get her out of my head because I need to have sex with her?"

Athair frowned and whacked Knuckles on the head. "That is a crude, rude, and ultimately inaccurate way of saying it my boy. I could say you're destined for each other, or I could say you're so much alike that it's a failsafe to keep you from tearing each other's throat's out, or I could say you're doomed to be with each other so you had better get used to the idea. Or maybe, if you prefer the idea of free will, perhaps in the echidna collective subconscious the two of you sensed each other and have been seeking each other out most of your lives. Then there's the classic way to put it, 'Love at first sight.' "

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Is there a point to this?"

"Besides that your life is destined to end a lot sooner than it would have before meeting her?" Athair chuckled. "The point is that she can't get you out of her head either because your souls, whether you want to believe in them or not thank you very much, are tied together. As long as there is even a ghost of something between you two, you will never be truly separate."

Knuckles thought about that for a moment. He shuddered in horror. "And that's supposed to be a good thing?!"

Athair chuckled, whacked Knuckles good-naturedly, and started walking away. "It's all in how you look at it, great-grandson! All in how you look at it!" He vanished.

Knuckles grumbled and crossed his arms, muttering rude names for his ancestor under his breath. "Lousy old coot."

A loose conduit fell from the ceiling and bonked him on the head. "Ow!"

"I heard that!" Athair's voice echoed throughout the hangar.

...

-Sally. I understand. The only way to live is to change. –

Riahta seemed slightly bored. "Are you done with that stupid flashback? Good. Then let's get this epic battle underway! I'm sure people will talk of it for eons to come in the Dark Walker's new order!"

This was it. "A pleasure to disappoint you, because I don't have time _to_ play with you, you old fart!"

"Arrogance combined with stupidity to the end. I was going to drag this out for dramatic effect but just for that I think I'll crush your body right now!" Riahta came at him in a golden streak of light. Knuckles went past scared and past angry. In a crimson blur, in the space of an eye blink, Knuckles charged to meet him.

"Listen to the sweet scream of the song of order!" Riahta called, before unleashing Julie's breath weapon: a golden shockwave that tore the very particles in the air apart. Knuckles flew right in its path, with no time or space to dodge. Knuckles didn't try to.

The sound waves twisted through his aura, cutting into what should have been indestructible flesh, yet still fanning away from him as he drove through the attack like a bullet.

Flame and sound collided with a thunderclap that could be heard across the island, creating a firestorm with the proprietors at its center. The unnatural tsunami blazed around them, red and gold mixing like the blood splashed on a dragon's horde.

The opposing forces held each other at bay for a moment, then shattered. The attack cut into Knuckles' sides and center as he broke through to the other side, surprising Riahta. Knuckles slammed his hands against Julie's plated chest and pushed himself, all of his self, everything that was the self, into her, for the sacred barrier that kept souls separates, in fact, enclosed them both.

'If our souls are truly always linked, then the power of the chaos force that is a part of my soul can travel along that link to her! I give it up! All of it! For her! Go to her! Be her! Cure the infection and purify her body!'

"Leave her or die Riahta!" Knuckles commanded.

Riahta through Mourning Star's mouth screamed. The chaos force, in its rawest form, was being shoved down his throat. It was too much. He couldn't take it!

"Julie, my gift to you!" Knuckles' words pierced through everything. Like a dam that burst, it came flooding out of him and went crashing into her, filling every inch of her body even as it emptied out every inch of his, and Knuckles didn't stop he wouldn't stop this was for her. The fire poured into its new vessel and burned away the filth, flinging a screaming, helpless Riahta back through the astral plane and into his own dying body.

From deep within the fog, Julie woke up even as the fires that scorched through her burned that fog away.

There were no doubts or fears. It had only been Riahta's stupid black magic that made Julie even able to believe any of the lies he had stuffed into her head! She had no guilt, only anger at her body being used as a weapon! Riahta's scream became Julie's roar!

…

Knuckles' distraction had indeed bought the heroes the opening they needed to enter the captured part of the palace. However, Riahta clearly still didn't want them getting close.

They rose out of the ground just like zombies, others came out of the wall like ghosts, and still others descended from the ceiling.

Sally recognized them as the shapeless emerald things that Spectre had used to help her learn to focus with the Sword. Now it was clear Riahta wanted to use them as a psychological barricade against his foes, forcing the Palace to protect him. He was attempting to strike at their hearts and minds where they were at their weakest, crippling them and stripping away their will to fight and leaving them wondering if there was anything in this dark, dreary, hopeless world worth fighting for now or ever, or if they had simply been fooling themselves into thinking they had anything to fight for at all.

Fat chance! They had more important things to do!

"Sorry sista! I'm sooo over that!" Bunnie punched the fake, fully organic Rabbot through the head, its nearly empty black insides shattering. And Bunnie was struck by the oddest realization, that these fully living fakes of her looked as unnatural and strange to her as the fully mechanical ones had before.

"Get out of my way! After all the crap I've been through, you think _you're _gonna be the ones to break me? Get real!" Amy shouted, smashing through this army of midgets that looked like she had when Sonic rejected her. "I can't play with you right now!"

Sally saw nothing but shapeless black crystalline blobs. She got the hint of a superimposed image of her father however. "Bad choice of defenses!" Sally screamed, beheading a soulless copy of her father. "You couldn't have picked an easier target!"

"Nothing personal, but I've got a totally pointless, bloodthirsty, meaningless revenge to carry out," Hershey said politely, making several perfect headshots at the fake Geoffrey's, blasting their heads to bits, which stopped their animation without fail.

Tails twisted his tails into a tornado impacting the Tempests, knocking them hard against the black twisted floor where they shattered like glass. "I can't afford to be scared of you right now, Sonic needs me!"

"We're almost there!" Sally declared, splitting a black Yllas in two. "These things are just here to tire us out!"

"In that case!" Bunnie took the emerald thing she was grappling with and tossed it into the mass of enemies, breaking a path for them to cross. "Let's go!"

"Ditto!" Tails took hold of Amy and air lifted her pass the earthbound emerald things.

Sally ran past the things and Hershey wisely followed in her wake.

The opening reminded Sally of a heart valve, one that was trying to close but couldn't, or was that an opening that was staying open just for them and was just barely holding on?

Either way, the Emerald Chamber did indeed lie just beyond. She could feel the suffering Master Emerald close now. It suffered just as the souls of Sonic and the others suffered as Riahta used them for his Knights. There seemed to be something off, though. The souls were all there. But the flow of chaos and order wasn't like Sally remembered it.

Were her new senses just picking up something they couldn't before? But they felt rewritten from the ground up of what they were before. Had Riahta recharged his Knights and made them even stronger?

Well it wasn't like they could turn back now anyway. They would win, or they would die trying.

And the Freedom Fighters passed the final door to their destinies.

...

Fire purified all. The living metal of the four wings shattered, breaking apart under the force, brunt up under the cleansing by fire.

Bones corrected their positions, shifting back to where their blueprints told them they were supposed to be. Metal scales disintegrated to free beautiful violet pink fur, skin healing over the unnatural holes. The tail of muscle and armor fell apart freeing a thin tail meant for emotions and balance, not war. Heh, though it was longer than Knuckles remembered.

Talons and claws were expelled for hands and feet. A wild mane going down her back twisted into dreadlocks atop her head. The wild snout of a dragon became the muzzle of an echidna, while horns broke off her head, falling apart before they had even completed their drop. Pores and other natural openings in the body returned. Cybernetics, as much a part of her as the rest of her, reverted to their true shape. Ugly twisted handspikes vanished; in their place was what was natural. And life came back to Julie-Su's eyes.

She floated down from the air, like an angel descending from grace. Her bare feet lightly touched the grass, her fiery aura slowly dispelling. Julie blinked a few times, taking notice that her front was bare (the only thing a female echidna considered proper to cover) along with everything else. Heh, she was free.

"Knuckles?" Not taking time to moan about the loss of her favorite outfit, she looked around for her lover. She remembered him being close, closer than she could ever remember being with any living being in her life, it was like their souls had actually overlapped! And that unity forced that filth out of her. Julie felt a gratitude she never thought she was capable of. She had been indebted to Knuckles before, times that she owed him, but she had never known such a strong desire to thank someone before. She loved him a hundred times over and a hundred times over she would tell him that.

That was when she noticed him in the grass, on his back, as stark naked as she was, and she could see that he was very still.

Julie-Su, daughter of Luger, searched for a pulse. She found one, but if there was such a thing as an echo of an echo of a heartbeat that was what she felt. "Knuckles…no…no, you can't be dead! Not after that! Not after what you did for me!"

"Julie . . ." Knux whispered. She looked down at him, his face had lost half its color. "I love you, I want you to be reminded of that before . . ." His voice trailed off. Knux found it was hard to keep his eyes open. 'Please God', he silently prayed, 'give me the time I need.'

"Don't be silly Knux, you're going to fine." Julie said in a forced cool tone, trying as hard as she could to conceal her panic.

Knuckles shook his head, chuckling weakly. "No, I'm dying, the inferno power used too much of my life-force, I can't survive."

Julie's slightly shook him, forcing herself to smile. "Come on, you can't die! What will happen to that stupid prophecy of Athair's? You're supposed to be a savior for your race's future."

Knuckles smirked. "I thought you didn't buy my great grandpa's 'mystic psychobabble'."

"W-Well yeah but," Julie stuttered, trying to think of a reason for Knuckles to keep fighting, to stay alive. "…You're the Guardian, you're needed, what will happen to this island without you? I-I mean…" She swallowed. "Ev-everyone on this island needs you. I…_I_ need you. We can't…what will we do without you?"

The dying echidna winked at her. "Don't worry Julie-Su, the island…and you…will still have a Guardian." Knuckles looked at Julie and smiled Athair's smile. It clicked in Julie's skull what he meant, going off with a flash not unlike a fireworks display of shock.

"B-B-But I CAN'T be Guardian!" she stammered in protest. "One, I'm an ex-Legionnaire, two I don't believe in all that emerald hocus pocus, and three I am NOT of your bloodline!"

Knuckles' eyes weren't looking at her for a moment. "I can see it clearly now Julie. Your past will be your strength, not your weakness. I didn't believe the hocus pocus at first either, but look at me now. Look at what's happened today." He smiled. "And we both know, we're both related when you go back far enough...Julie…look down at your chest." Julie was confused, was Knux now delirious? "Look down."

Hearing the urgency in his words she looked at her chest and was as stunned as if Grandpa Dimitri had danced right before them in Lien-Da's mockable excuse for underwear, her mouth a gaping hole in her face.

On her body, as if it had always been there, except she _knew _it had never been there, shaped like a white horizontal crescent moon, a swoosh at the start of one shoulder and ending at the other, was the symbol of the Guardians, the birthmark of Knuckles Son of Locke's family.

There was something else too... something she hadn't had the mind to notice before. On the back of her hands, two on each, curving to an arched point forward, were the fist spikes Knuckles was so famous for.

It only took a moment for her to do the math. The energy aura, when it had expelled Riahta and 'burned' away the bio-metal, had done this to her as well.

"Why? How?" Julie asked, fighting back a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. But she knew the answer, only a member of Knuckles' family could be given the title of Guardian, now she was both. Julie felt a chill go up her spine. She tried to deny she felt it, just like she tried to deny the mark on her chest, she succeed at neither.

Knux had said what he had needed to say; now he just needed to say fair well.

"Julie, you're a strong leader at heart. I know you can do it, and don't worry, even though you won't be able to see me, I'll be there to help you. I love you Julie. By the way, stop being a bitch around Sally, you two would make perfect friends." He smiled and placed his hand on the mark on her chest, the same one emblazoned across his own. "I'll always be right here." And then Knuckles the Echidna allowed himself to die.

Julie-Su held him for quite some time, not shedding a tear, not letting out a cry. She then stood up in normal fashion, looked at the cooling body in an impartial way, making sure no one could see her or hear her. And then she let out her heart through her eyes and sobs.

She didn't know how long she was like that, her mind wasn't on the present, it was on the last five years of her life with a young red Echidna, their trials and tribulations, the way they fought against their emotions for each other and lost. That deep passionate kiss that one golden night.

She 'felt' something behind her, she shot up, tried desperately to break off the tears and cries of loss, one part of her terrified at showing weakness even now, another part simply no longer seemed concerned now that he was gone. She used one hand to cover her chest and the other instinctively reached for her gun, only to realize she was unarmed.

Through her tear-blurred eyes she saw it was an Echidna with dreadlocks leaning on a staff right in front of her.

Her vision went red. "You! You #*$^#^ filthy, slimly, son of a b*^%*&!" Forgetting her appearance completely, she reached out her hands to put her new spikes to good use through his throat.

The old echidna sighed wearily. "That I am. But do not blame me for his death. And my mother was a noble woman." Realizing it was Athair and not Riahta only made Julie-Su frustrated, causing her to clench her fists and her teeth.

"You…well, it looks like your precise prophecy just went up in smoke, Knux is dead, and your foretelling of the three who will unite the world has gone out the window!" Julie said bitterly, getting some meager satisfaction from this.

Athair shook his head. "No, my Knuckles will be the savior of the future of the Echidnas…" He pointed his finger at her. "Through you…young Guardian."

"How do you-" Remembering she had just let her chest open to the air again, Julie crossed her arms in frustration and embarrassment.

"I have observed everything that has happened, your lover used his life force to free you both physically and mentally from Riahta, what he gave you is inside you now."

"Don't give me that s&^$ that Knux is still alive as some of part me! He was a lamb, not a martyr!" she snapped.

Athair shrugged, unbothered. "Not all lambs are sacrificed meaninglessly, young Guardian. (And I'd hardly call dear Knuckles a lamb, that's somewhat of an insult, don't you think?)"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Julie screamed, tears now streaming down her face. She didn't care. "Knux was Guardian, the best, he's dead now, gone forever, let his dad get off his b##, and start protecting this island again."

Athair made no response, Julie had been so mad at Athair's second statement the first one hadn't reached her brain . . . until now.

"Wait a ^&%* minute, are you telling me you watched what happened and did nothing, you could of helped Knux, and if you did he wouldn't be dead right now, and I bet you could bring him back to life right now if you wanted, but you won't will you! And I could beat you within a inch of you miserable ^(*^ing life and you still wouldn't do it!" Athair looked at Julie calmly through her now blind ranting. "I am a sage not a warrior, and I am not God. I can't bring back the dead that is cheating. And Knuckles was dead as soon he dumped his essence into you, he was holding onto his body to speak to you through sheer will power."

Having used up her argumentative arsenal and the colorful part of her vocabulary Julie turned around and sat down. "Rats," she said calmly.

Athair sat down beside her. "You know young Guardian, the first thing we are going to have to do is clean up that mouth of yours. With the likes of Sabre and my great grandson I used soup, but in your case I think some ammonia and industrial strength cleanser would be more appropriate."

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Julie snapped, all the name did was remind her of Knuckles, and what Athair was expecting of her. "And if you think a little creative surgery and a change in the color of my fur on a part of my body makes me a part of what your family is then you're sadly mistaken."

Truth be told, Julie couldn't have felt more screwed. The island could be standing on its head. The planet could start spinning the other way, trees could get up and walk away, and she wouldn't have felt more out place and worse yet, unsure. The one thing she had always prided herself on over Sally, unlike the princess, who Julie was sure was just giving the iron woman routine to not to feel scared, being made of iron for Julie had come naturally. No, that was a lie; she wasn't made of iron that much was obvious by now. Riahta had broken her mind; she had shown her weakest emotions fully to the world, she wasn't made of iron. At most she was like Sonic; only her quills covered her heart and mind, long and razor sharp, not letting anything in. Only two people had penetrated that nest of quills. One was her kind uncle Simon who she had not seen in too long who had given her a peek into the childhood repressed by her older sister and brother and the family it turned out she had not wished to know (she never learned what price he paid for revealing the truth to her). And Knuckles, he had fascinated her from the beginning; she had strangely trusted him when they had barley known each other. But even that was gone now. She was naked before the world. Athair continued to look at her, needing no mind trick to read her thoughts.

"There will be time to mourn, and to heal later young Guardian, and to prepare for the life that lies ahead for you. For now your allies need your help more than Knuckles does. You had better get going." The old man gestured.

That much was true, she was still a soldier and the living needed her help more than the dead, if only the dead didn't include Knux!! Her discipline and duty grappled with her emotions and pain.

"Are you just going to leave his body to rot?" Julie wouldn't leave Knuckles to be picked at by the scavengers. Not even now.

Athair took this in. Looking like Julie had issued a request, Athair raised his staff and tapped it on the ground in his normal manner. Knuckles' body winked out of existence with the resulting flash.

Julie turned to the old man, her anger revived. "I did not incinerate him if that is what you are thinking. I put the body somewhere for safekeeping; you need not worry about it now. Now let us both get on our way."

"If you can do that, why don't you just zap me to the Emerald Chamber?"

Athair shook his head. "The sacred barrier that kept Riahta from teleporting in still prevents me from doing so. You need to run Guardian, the Hidden Palace and Master Emerald should still be able to guide you. Knuckles' experience is a part of you, no backtalk, just accept it young Guardian. And I had better get moving before my family dies on their feet and the Lava Reef does indeed break through thanks to Riahta's reckless meddling."

Knowing it was futile to argue, Julie conceded. "How do I get down?"

"Same way you came up, I have to take the long way."

"But how am I..." Julie remembered something she hadn't experienced. "Oh right. You know I still hate you."

Athair only smiled at this statement. If she was not a great-granddaughter in blood she was at least one in spirit. He gently bonked her on the head for no reason. "Now go young Guardian! You are needed beyond words!"

Both ancient sage and the trainee Guardian raced off each in their own way, both toward destiny.

Julie jumped down the hole made by Knuckles during her fight, creating a draft to slow herself down just enough to not break a leg when landing. Spreading out her spines to catch the draft, her unnatural ones making it a clumsy flight, she glided down towards the palace. Landing squarely on the front doorstop, Julie ran like the wind towards the Chaos Chamber, hearing its desperate cries for its Guardian.

…

Comments, rants, rave, flames, opinions good or bad, good points, bad points, what need improving, all welcome. The music or rather lyrics that were meant to be played or rather written in Knuckles and Morning Star's right was Goo Goo Doll's 'Long Way Down' but I couldn't figure how to properly put them in. The scene with Julie and Athair is actually the oldest of the new material, having written it YEARS before I began the project again with Ri2 last year.

The next chapter will be the finale. Thanks for sticking with me through all of this, all of you.


	14. Heroic Hedgehogs And Very Brave Foxes

A gary-stu version of the pokemon deoxys waved its tenticales madly through the air, it's soulless identity less eyes staring into forever, "I come from ten thousand years hence and since!"

Aeon, "You shall pay for disrupting the flow of time! Your hour is up!"

This final chapter represents not only me putting my past with Ri2 behind me, it also represents the great trial after the endless smaller ten ones I had to endure. And since I had ten smaller stories to finnish before I did this one, and you go through ten opponents in Castlevania judgement before the real final boss, I figured it was fitting to merge the two in this instance. I was tempted to leave this story off-line since I lost my original draft and Ri2 altered what I wrote so dramatically! But I felt you people who had read this far deserved to read the finale as well. Thank you, all of you.

Howdy, here we go.

…

Riahta could not believe this defeat. Heh, if it could be called that. He still had the greatest of all this world's champions as his puppet and time was now on his side, and his power was returning more with every moment.

He would have told Lightspeed that now Mourning Star was dead as well to get him even more into the fighting spirit, but Riahta didn't need to. He only needed Lightspeed to protect him a while longer anyway, then he would have won. Yes. Beautiful.

Riahta was rather confused by exactly what happened, but now Lightspeed would have dispatched the other invaders by the time his fake great grandson arrived, just in time to greet the new masters of this world. And he would get to taunt the red echidna about how the muscle head had murdered his own woman for nothing. His only real regret was that he wouldn't get to enjoy his dragon slave now, well, easy come easy go…

The Master Emerald could hear the Slave Emerald's mind now as they grew closer, around the time the opening grew to the width of a street lamp. What a pathetic thing. Its limited awareness continued to repeat the same thought over and over:

-…mine…mine…mine… - By the time it's rescuers had come, the pillar of light was half of the Master Emerald's width. It knew the truth, when the width became the same as its own, that was when the two lords of emeralds would touch, and the protective barrier between realities would break!

The Order Emeralds in Riahta' world shook with dread that the Slave Emerald's existence would continue after all. While around the Master Emerald's world, the Chaos Emeralds shook in a sympathetic reaction to their parent's agony.

...

It didn't look like the Emerald Chamber. The pillars and the Master Emerald were there, but that's where any similarities ended. The Emerald Chamber had given the ladies a sense of awe when they had first visited. This place was thick with a feeling of revulsion, like the sweetest fruit spoiled rotten. The most refreshing water contaminated to the point of corrosion. Dung smeared across the canvas of a renaissance masterpiece. Graffiti tags like the territory markings of unevolved dogs covering the Taj Mahal from tip to foundation.

The mold and rot covered everything, black with a crimson glow. As if they were in the heart of a long dead animal the floor shifted under their own weight. The entire chamber gave the impression of forever melting and rotten yet never falling apart, making the ladies feel that the entire place could collapse and smoother them at any moment! And the smell was oddly like the faint stink of rotted seaweed. Purple light flowed down the melted candle pillars across the uneven floor up through the black mound filled with stillborn green chaos emeralds into the Master Emerald, looking for all intents and purposes a captive in it's own resting place.

A beam of light just over half as wide as the Master Emerald shot upwards, through a jaggedly defined hole in the ceiling out of view. The hole, nothing less than a wound between worlds, was held in a frame comprised of spikes, tentacles, and eyeballs.

A reflective blue figure stood dazed before them.

"Sonic…" whispered Tails and Sally. Lightspeed seemed unmoved by their arrival.

Riahta, grinning and looking much more energetic than any of them could remember him looking, sat on the edge of the Master Emerald, his feeble legs swinging idly as he held his gnarled staff, throbbing with power and life, in his hands. "Hehehehe…so, you made it to the party! I almost didn't think you'd get here in time!"

"What, with those pathetic excuses for minibosses in our way?" Amy scoffed. "I've seen stronger things growing under my bed!"

He bowed mockingly. "My apologies, insignificant one…I was a little too busy preparing the end of the world to create adequate obstacles for you. And this stupid animated piece of architecture continues to fight against me…no matter. Soon enough it will all be naught, anyway."

"That is what we are here for," Sally said, drawing the Sword of Acorns. "To stop you."

"Locked and loaded," Hershey said, pointing her gun at Riahta's head. "You have a LOT to answer for, scumbag."

"Hohoho…you think so, do you?"

"Yes, I do! For making Jeff do what he did!"

Riahta started of his giddy attitude, "How could you even know… THE HELL-!? " He stared seeing Tails alive. "How is the abomination breathing-?! How is the back to the way it was?!"

Tails shouted, fist clenched, "Turns out one teenage girl was stronger than your zap and go brainwashing! And I just guessin' the souls of a buncha dead person named Acorn is stronger than your cheap curses! Either that or love! Your secret's out Riahta! I heard you! I believe your words were 'bout, 'they wouldn't have even considered the possibility if it weren't for me!' Geoffery, Hershey and King Max aren't responsible for all the death that's happened! You are!" Tails looked to see if his words had any effect on Sonic, but Lightspeed only stood there like a tailor's dummy.

"If mortals weren't so stupid and weak willed then I wouldn't be able to do anything in the first place! Blame yourselves."

Hershey hissed, "The only thing I blame myself for is stupidly not realizing how utterly and completely out of character what Jeff' did was!"

"Enough!" both sides of Sally growled. "We could never stand you manipulator types who always try to shift the blame onto your victims! Where are the rest of your puppets?" She knew they were here without doubt, but the mix of order and chaos was throwing off her sixth sense.

He grinned and spread his arms out. "I'm almost flattered…you're so focused on me you haven't even noticed my set of masterpieces!"

"Set of-" They stopped, gaping as they finally noticed what was standing on the Super Emerald pedestals.

Seven statues made of gemstone, each in the color of one of the Chaos Emeralds and carved so exquisitely they almost looked real A tall yellow crystal and extremely attractive female echidna with almost boyish hair, standing on her tiptoes with her hands behind her arched back and a coy look aimed at the doorway the heroes had just came through.

On another pillar sat the red crystal figure of an adorable small creature that looked like it was made of living water drops. Its smile had shark's teeth and a spiked ball topped its pointed head. It had wings and a tail akin to a devil's. Sally's other memories stirred: Dark Chao with its fanged face frozen in a giggle, its spiked emotion ball in the form of a little devil face.

"You 'gotta' be kiddin' me!" Bunnie said. The third pillar held another shapely echidna woman, this one made of transparent violet, her figure caught in a dancing pose. Her gem hair was am impressive plum that went down her backside and beyond. A beautiful purple echidna, her eyes closed with a smile on her face as she was frozen forever in mid-step of a dance.

"Check please," Amy deadpanned. The fourth pillar held another of the tear-shaped beings, without any gender Amy could see. It was made out of turquoise colored emerald. This one looked rather plain, its head topped with a simple ball, its button shaped eyes looking at them with curiosity and detachment. She couldn't hope to see its cherub wings from this angle. An unworried turquoise Neutral Chao with a blank emotion dot over its head.

The last female echidna figure was a transparent statue glowing blue, its spines in a ponytail. It knelt at a quarter view from them, looking over its shoulder while covering its chest with its delicate hands (the closest thing any of the statues came to covering anything.) A gorgeous cobalt echidna sitting down with her back turned a quarter away, partly covering her chest while looking over her shoulder.

The sixth pillar was the last of the teardrop beings, this one was plain white and like the rest glowing in its respective color like the chaos emeralds they were clearly meant to imitate. A halo topped its head and small angel wings grew from its back. It was just emerald like the rest, but it actually seemed happy to see them! A happy white Hero Chao with its wings stuck in mid-flutter with a heart-shaped emotion dot.

And on the center pillar, the one closest to the Master Emerald and the one reserved for its eldest child lay the green emerald statue of a sleeping female dragon infant curled around herself. She looked rather And finally, a cute green dragon curled up in an afternoon nap.

The statues were the only spots of beauty in the room, save the tortured form of the Master Emerald, and if anything that made them look even more wrong and out of place.

"Whoa…" Tails said, eyes wide as he stared at the very well-endowed echidnas.

"MILES!" Amy snapped, feeling another wave of jealousy as she quickly covered his eyes.

"Wha' the heck?!" said a confused Bunnie. "What're all those here for?"

"And shouldn't there be more knights here than just the hedgehog?" Hershey asked, her eyes narrowing. "Unless…"

"Creator no,"Sally bow her head at what been her comrades and at the souls she felt now totally warped for one moment then glared at Riahta, quickly deducing the truth. "You are a truly pitiful creature…you sacrificed your own minions without a second thought?"

"At least we have a little less to worry about," Hershey said. No one bothered to berate her for it.

"Sacrificed?" Riahta chortled. "My dear 'Princess', this is exactly what I created them for in the first place! This is what their worthless lives were intended for, to serve in creating the gate to my world and channel the Master Emerald's power there. What's left of him is chirpy little semi-conductors. Hehehehe…you should feel happy for them, this is the only worthwhile thing they would ever have done anyway!"

"I've heard enough," Hershey said coldly. "You die now." She fired.

Riahta only giggled gleefully as he held a palm out, stopping the bullet in midair… not letting anyone see the blood seeping from his palm. "Oh, I'm sorry Miss Feline…that won't work on me. As you can see, I'm not the withered old mage you remember." He spryly hopped up, standing taller than any of them ever remembered him being. "Allow me to show you what power I have been granted…the power of my youth, the power to crush all that stands before me!" Grinning wildly, he slammed the end of his staff into the Master Emerald's top. "Worthless emerald! Hear your master! Grant me back the years lost long ago! Give me MY POWER!"

Reluctantly, the Master Emerald lit up, bathing the old wizard and the room in sickly green light. Bolts of emerald energy shot out, striking the Super Order Emerald statues and causing them to glow in their respective colors before shooting beams of light at Riahta's staff, connecting at the tip in an explosion of blinding white light that filled the room and engulfed Riahta, whiting everything out for several seconds before fading away and revealing…

A pair of hands thick and strong grasped a serpentine staff it's eyes shimmering with the colors of all the Emerald statues. Diamond beads set in a neat pattern clipped long, healthy dreadlocks at the ends and three in the middle of each dread. An upside-down crescent moon symbol glowed with an unnatural darkness across his chest. Healthy shiny brown fur covered the body of an unnaturally tall echidna who looked in the prime of his youth, his muscles and manhood exaggerated in their size and strength.

He laughed in their dumbstruck faces and levitated into the air, glowing with power. "What's wrong, mortal fools?" He asked in a deep, rich voice. "Does my beauty leave you speechless? Ahahaha…it should! And now, allow it to be the last magnificent sight you see in this world!" Riahta was acting less a dark wizard and more like a muscle punk with a brain the size of a baby kumquat! He raised his staff, the tip of which began glowing white.

Amy HAD to ask, "Why emerald statues of women echidnas? Okay I think I get the turning into giant emeralds thing, maybe. But why did you reshape them into female echidnas and the others things?! That makes absolutely no sense!"

"One, I've been putting this plot together for quite a while, and I felt I deserved some thrill here at the end and I FELT like it!"

"...You are completely insane."

Riahta's perky attitude cracked ever so slightly. "Come, Lightspeed…let us slaughter these annoyances! And offer them up as gifts to my masters when they descend upon this disgusting world!"

"With pleasure, master…" Lightspeed whispered coldly, flexing his claws as he began to shine with a golden glow.

"Sonic…" Sally started.

"Sally…DIE!" Lightspeed roared, before charging at her, goaded by his master's laugh.

Before Lightspeed could make a move, any restraint Tails had left floated away, and the fox flew out of the group, hovering between the two opposing sides. "SONIC!"

Riahta tried to blur out the freak fox's face, to mute the stupid child's words, but the emotional overload of seeing his 'little brother' alive -right in his face- now that Lightspeed was out of 'sleep mode' when Riahta had programmed his pawn to think the abomination was dead disrupted Riahta's commands.

Lightspeed couldn't believe his eyes, but there was no mistaking that orange and white fur, those blue eyes, those trademark twin tails and that kind but knowing demeanor. Lightspeed felt his programming beginning to conflict. He stuttered at the kit fox, his voice lanced with confusion, Lightspeed's golden aura flickering out instantly.

"T-T-Temp-Ta-Tai-Little brother! But you're dead! Riahta said so! That Amy killed you!"

Tails yelled his heart out. "Amy SAVED me! Sonic! Listen! Riahta IS just using you! He used all of us!"

"B-but, h-how, a-are, y-ou, I mean, you're not, how can you be," Poor Lightspeed was very confused.

"I'm _free_ Sonic! We don't owe Riahta anything! You can be free too! Riahta was the one who-"

Riahta shut the annoyance up with an energy bolt from his paws, flinging the fox backwards. "Lightspeed, kill them."

The Knight, pawn, looked at his master. "All of them? But what about Tempest?"

Riahta's voice was matter of fact. "He's a traitor. Kill him."

"But-"

Riahta grabbed hold of Lightspeed's spiritual heart so hard it bled. "I COMMAND YOU TO MURDER THEM ALL! It is what you owe me in your oath!"

Lightspeed stiffened and spoke in a pained, halting voice. "Y-Yes M-Master."

The monster charged at the kit, claws forward to reluctantly rip open the child's throat.

"D-Die!"

Too fast. Too far. Too late.

"Miles! Get out of way! He'll kill you!"

"Sugah Fox!"

"Prower!"

"Tails!"

Time began to slow as death flashed towards the fox. Tails could hear his own heart beat, a slow, paced thing. He saw the details of the violated Sonic looming larger and larger. Lightspeed was upon him. Tails didn't move. Fear sat dissatisfied on his shoulder, but it was telling the fox to do something! But even now, even in the face of death, he couldn't do it. The child refused to accept the idea he wouldn't let it form. All of the fur stood up on Tails' body as tears misted on his face.

'I won't fight Sonic! I won't, I won't, I won't, I WON'T!'

In his mind's eye Tails saw it, the yellow chaos emerald, but as soon as he did, it shattered in a flash of light.

Tails felt a hot wind burst from inside himself. The wind blew to every inch of his body, and beyond. The wind left a sense of calm in its wake. He felt the familiar presence of four echoes of himself. The fox understood exactly what had happened and wasn't afraid.

Everyone had to cover their eyes at the sudden yellow flash, except Riahta thanks to his strengthened eyes. The yellow Super Order Emerald shook slightly at Tails' presence, confusing the soul inside. The Master Emerald fought back with renewed hope and its inverted turning slowed.

The initial shockwave from the igniting of chaos force blinded Lightspeed, the Knight covered himself for the attack he knew was coming from his opening. When none came, he uncovered his eyes and knew what he was seeing. Even if there were no chaos emeralds about, there was only thing this being could be.

Tails' yellow fur was so light as to be almost white. Every inch of his body shinned with its own inner radiance. He now floated without the use of his tails, which waved behind him in an unfelt wind. Four gold balls of fire popped into existence around the fox, which morphed into the solid shapes of four different birds, Flickies. The familiars orbited around their master obediently, waiting for not so much as a thought as his will. His eyes were as blue as the sky he loved to soar in. Typhoon Tails.

What threw Riahta, and thus Lightspeed off for the greatest loop however wasn't the sudden transformation, it was the fox's eyes. Those eyes held no final decision to kill, no anger at the wrongness of things, no hate at betrayal. They looked, sad, perhaps sympathetic, and maybe even regretful? These eyes in their own way were more dangerous to Riahta than the princess'!

Amy knew she had seen her love in this shape before, maybe in a dream?

It was later asked how Tails could have transformed without the chaos emeralds. The answer of course was rather obvious. "Because that was the only way Miles could protect himself without harming Sonic." And so the chosen one had done so, by his own will.

Despite the transformation, the evil wizard was largely unimpressed. "Attack!"

Lightspeed did so even more reluctantly, Tails dodged every claw swipe, blocked every strike, that sad expression never leaving his face. The moves were too fast for any of the heroes to intervene without disrupting the flow against Tails' favor.

A surprise sonic spin, the first one Lightspeed had ever used, spun through the air like a buzzsaw, but it only sliced through an afterimage of Tails. Lightspeed turned around in hope of deflecting the chaos blast that was headed his way. None was coming his way; Tails just kept looking at him with those pleading eyes!

"Hey! I'm the guy who makes a fool out of the enemy!" Lightspeed protested. A swarm of Lightspeed afterimages came at the fox, his familiars struck every last one of them, the last Lightspeed, the real one, Tails just dodged, _again._

"THINK Sonic, this isn't what you wanted, this isn't what you've been fighting for all your life. This isn't what you believe in!"

"It doesn't matter what I believe in! We have to fight now!"

Lightspeed did a spin at a speed past the sound barrier, creating a vacuum blade which shot right at the fox. Typhoon Tails brought his hand up and his familiars spun in a circle in front of it, creating a solid golden barrier the sound wave shattered against.

Hershey took advantage of the distraction and fired a pair of explosive-tipped rounds at Riahta. The evil wizard guffawed and twirled his staff before him, deflecting the bullets into the walls, where they exploded. He raised his hand to disintegrate Amy's crossbow bolts with an energy blast, still grinning, the looks in his eyes of pure insanity. "Hoho, it'll take more than that, ladies. Why do you bother fighting? Why not just sit back and watch the show, hmm?"

"I won't fight you!"

"Come on! Fight back! Please!"

Lightspeed made handsigns only Sally caught and a blue tornado of force tore up from the floor right at the fox. Tails countered with a tornado of his own and the two twisters canceled each other out.

Tails' familiars grabbed Lightspeed, each one on one wrist, bringing the hedgehog to a sudden stop.

"No, because Aunt Sally is right! You'd never do any of this if you had a real choice!"

Lightspeed vibrated his arms and legs so fast he actually passed _through_ the energy based beings. "We're enemies! Which means we fight!"

Tails familiars flew protectively back to their master.

Tails shook his head franticly. "NO! No matter what happens, you're still my friend!"

A blue aura began to seep from Lightspeed's body, twisted around him like an invisible shield. "If you don't fight back you'll die!"

"Then I'd rather die! You're my brother and I love you!"

"Don't you _dare_ die on me again Tails!" Amy snarled, shaking a fist.

Riahta sighed in exasperation. "Lightspeed! If you can't kill the freak child then at least get rid of the stupid women! STEAMROLL them!"

Lightspeed staggered. 'Y-Yes, m-my m-mas-ster."

"No!" Typhoon Tails' aura took in the same wave pattern as Lightspeed and the fox landed on the ground just as Lightspeed revved up. The ladies tried to scatter but they couldn't hope to outrun the fastest thing alive.

Lightspeed launched and so did Tails. A gold and a blue comet crashed into each other with tremendous force, causing a new shockwave to shake the Emerald Chamber. The familiars spun around Tails like mad. The two didn't make physical contact; their aura repelled them, Lightspeed's wind pushing Tails' back. But Tails' element was the wind too, and he had a little something extra as well.

Electricity crackled around the fox as the intensity of the battle of will increased with every moment, and Tails began to push Lightspeed back! He was pushing Sonic back! Lightspeed himself was almost as unbelieving of this as Tails! The two wind auras continued to impact each other as the electric current in Typhoon Tails' aura passed over into Lightspeed's, shocking the Knight pawn. Lightspeed redoubled his efforts, and the two were at a standstill again.

"Is…that all you've…got little bro?" Lightspeed hissed, the electric shocks throwing his mind out of focus.

"Not on your life!" The fox's tails spun so fast they appeared solid, the familiars doing the same so they looked like a solid gold ring floating around him. The black floor beneath them cracked and peeled, revealing the real cobalt floor underneath, which was cut away by the friction.

Finally, the two conflicting forces were too much, and they exploded.

The explosion was surprisingly small.

The ladies all hit the dirt, but a small piece successfully pierced one of Bunnie's long ears, leaving a trail of blood and unleashing a torrent of curses from the Southern Bella.

Sally looked and saw to her relief both of her dear ones were still alive, though blown clear of ground zero.

The two warriors fell back from the explosion, neither looking the worse for wear. Lightspeed however did struggle to get up, the blast having knocked more than just the wind out of him.

"Dang it Tails," Lightspeed coughed. "Take this fight seriously already! You know I can't stop!"

"No." The glowing Tails landed squarely on his feet, and calmly shook his head. "You and Aunt Sally are my family, and I know, even in the deepest part of me, beyond a doubt, that you would never kill me." Typhoon Tails let out a deep breath, and his golden aura vanished and his familiars went back to whence they came, his fur returning to its plain yellow orange.

"Tails, what are you doing?!" Amy screamed, certain Tails had just gone stark raving mad.

Tails ignored her, and looked into Lightspeed's, Sonic's eyes. "I trust you."

"Finish him!" Riahta commanded.

Lightspeed obeyed and charged at the fox that would not move. Everyone called his name a second time, but there would be no chaos emerald this time. Tails met his fate.

The sliver claws mercilessly and heartlessly impaled air, the furthest point stopping an iota of a millimeter from the tip of Tails' nose.

The claw was perfectly still, and then it began to shake, followed by the hand and the rest of the arm.

"Why! Why can't I do it?!" Lightspeed cried.

"Because… " Tails said with a kind smile and tears in his eyes. "You're a hero." And Tails dared to hug him.

The mistake had been all Riahta's from the very start. He had wanted the power Tempest had too badly, and had not wanted to use more power to alter the minds of his weapons even more so. Riahta had never once programmed in a single negative thought about Tails into Sonic's heart. Just like Tempest and Amy.

And now, the evil sage paid for that mistake dearly. Well, not if he had anything to say about it!

He needed just a little more time! And he wouldn't have it all ruined by a stupid hedgehog's feeling for some freak fox!

A shapeless crystal mass monster flew through the air into the room via the entrance the heroes had taken, flaying its undefined arms. It sailed over the ladies' heads and shattered right next to Riahta, missing his skull by a fraction of an inch. The noise of it shattering was deafening. He frowned, more annoyed than startled.

"Dammit," a familiar female voice cursed. "I can't believe I missed."

Everyone's attention was now on the new arrival.

It was Julie. It had to be Julie. But she didn't seem quite like Julie.

She had Julie's cybernetics. But Julie didn't have fist spikes like Knuckles' family. And Julie wasn't one to go around with just a piece of torn black cloak around her breast. And she certainly didn't have a white 'swoosh' pattern on her fur's chest area! And her aura, Sally felt that while it was Julie's, there was something new and yet familiar about it.

"Mourning Star?" Lightspeed asked stupidly.

"Whad's that?" Bunnie wished she didn't have to keep saying that.

"Sorry I'm late …" Regret passed across her steel features. "Knuckles can't make it."

Riahta suffered a heart attack. His brain was hit by a stroke. No, this couldn't be! This girl was dead! Where was that idiot fake Knuckles?!

However, Riahta managed to keep up the illusion of composure dispite screaming tantrums in his mind, and set to work this to his advantage as the dark threads reconnected and pulled back together his faux youthful body on the inside.

"Hello my Mourning Star, ready to dive into the heart of your innermost nightmares a second time?"

The echidna didn't flinch. "Let me tell you something you walking corpse! Your reasons for putting me down were stupid! They couldn't have been more contrived! You were screwing with my head when you shoved them down my throat before but now that I'm thinking clearly you can forget it! Any child I'd have, would have had with my Knux would have been healthy! It's a major misconception about in breeding you twit! It doesn't automatically result in deformities! It only makes traits more pronounced!"

"Mourning Star?" Lightspeed again asked dumbly. "What do you mean?"

Riahta couldn't stop her. Not this time. "Riahta stuffed my head full of **** so I'd feel rotten, then when I wasn't looking throw my soul into the back seat!! Knuckles killed himself to save me! Say hello to the side effects!" Julie brought a spiked fist up to bear. The only reason she didn't attack Lightspeed on sight was because he was hugging the kit, which was logically a good sign.

Sally was knifed through the stomach, while Lightspeed felt like a vase had just been smashed over his head.

"Knuckles is dead?" That was … Impossible … he and Knucklehead hadn't had their ceremonial head-bashing contest yet! Where was their climatic annual grudge match?! He couldn't be dead!

Amy felt sympathy. She knew what it was like to lose someone, and she didn't mean Sonic.

"Master?" Lightspeed/Sonic dared ask, his programming falling apart a mile a minute now. "Why?"

Tails didn't give the master of lies a chance. "Sonic! That's what I've been trying to tell you! Riahta mind controlled St. John _and_ King Max! So we would get thrown out to our deaths! He's the one responsible for all of this!"

Lightspeed's programming, ordering him to trust Riahta regardless of all other information, now clashed with Sonic's absolute trust of Tails' word.

"It's true Sonic!" Sally said, who hadn't stood back while Tails was killed after all. So he really had no reason to distrust her. "You owe the devil nothing!"

Lightspeed/Sonic let go of Tails and held his head, feeling like it was going to split in two. The news of Knuckles' death, and the revelations made by Sally and Tails twisting around Riahta's programming as it struggled to crush this knowledge. It was all so confusing! Riahta was always right! His voice was absolute! But he'd trust Tails and Sally with his life. They were his family. Sonic/Lightspeed screamed as he felt his mind turn in upon itself, the reality of things breaking through.

If Riahta was right, he had to kill those he loved. If those he loved were right, he had murdered a teammate and innocent people for no reason! There had to be an answer!

And all of Sonic's friends and dear ones began to scream and shout his name.

Sonic opened his eyes inside the monster's body just in time for a giant black spidery hand composed of dark threads to grasp him at the waist out of nowhere and throw him into the pillar of light, which was now just past three quarters of the way open. There was no time for anyone to react. If Tails had still been super, maybe, but not now.

And if Julie had more time to figure out her abilities, she could have stopped him, but not now. And if Sally had been a few feet closer, she could have cut the hand's fingers off, but she wasn't. Sonic didn't have time to scream as his body vaporized cleanly in the beam, not even leaving ashes in its wake.

Riahta shrugged nonchalantly. "At least he bought me the time I needed."

Tails and Sally screamed equal cries of loss and disbelief. No, they couldn't lose him again! Not when he just came to them! It wasn't fair!

"MURDERER!" Amy snarled, firing one of her last five bolts right into Riahta's face, the bolt was caught by the black hand, the explosive tip tore it to pieces that vanished back into nothing.

Grief and denial overrode everything in Tails' brain as his super form blasted into being again, perhaps cutting years off Tails' life as his familiars rammed straight into Riahta's heart, but before he could fall over dead the black threads quickly created a faux one for him sealing up the hole. "Please do that again and tire yourselves out more," he sneered.

Bunnie and Hershey could only look in horror.

As far as Julie decided, that was the last person who was going to die for Riahta's greed.

Sally didn't cry. She didn't wail at losing him a second time. That was for later.

Sally's voice was that of the grim reaper's. "Riahta. You are about to die."

Riahta shrugged. "I doubt that. Soon, with the slightest push, the Gate will be forged, my masters will be free to enter this world, and as an added bonus I'll never have to endure that stuck up arrogance on my bastard great grandson's face _or_ his woman ever again!"

"Added bonus?" Sally had to know what this meant.

He cackled. "Heh, when the gate is forged the secondary shockwave of the two realities clashing together will create a blast so powerful not only in this world, but in mine, Angel Island and everyone on it will be reduced to less than dust!"

"You'd sacrifice your home, your people, and your family for power?" Amy asked, the only one idealistic enough there to wonder how such a thing was even possible.

Riahta laughed and flexed his muscles. "I already have more power than any of my family dreamed of! So what do I care!"

"What's sacred to you?" Sally asked simply.

"Hmm?"

Sally didn't blink. "What's sacred to you? You don't care about where you came from. You don't care about those around you. You don't even really care about your masters. I know who it is I'm fighting for. So what's sacred to you?"

Riahta stared at her, amazed at her immense stupidity. "I have myself."

Sally's eyes showed the slightest hint of pity. "Then all you have is nothing."

Riahta rolled his eyes. "Oh please…" He fired an energy bolt at her feet she easily side stepped. "You call that nothing? Or these?" he asked, demonstrating his rediculous muscles again.

Sally said blandly. "I correct myself… you have less than nothing." Riahta's eye twitched.

Amy couldn't believe how insane this mad man really was. "If this island is blown to bits, then you'll die too!"

"Pah, you think a little reality-shattering explosion will harm this body? I'm invincible, thanks to the power of the Master Emerald!" the wizard boasted. "But if you think you can stop me…" He hopped off the Master Emerald, shaking the ground with his landing. "Then just try it! Take your best shot!"

Sally rolled her eyes, "If the explosion shatters the Master Emerald, since you said everything on it would be blasted into dust, wouldn't that mean you'd no longer be invincible and thus be destroyed with the rest of us?"

"As if my masters would allow that to happen."

Sally looked at him in realization, "I finally see why the Dark Walkers chose –you- as their hand."

"Because I recognize power and how to take it!"

"Incorrect. Because they needed someone insane enough to trust them."

"I'm not insane! It's your entire backwards world that's crazy!"

Sally sighed. 'Why? Please? Why does it always to be resolved the bloody way?' "Time to pay the piper!" Sally drew her sword.

"Time to die," Hershey added. "For Geoffrey!"

"This is for Knuckles ass!" Julie snarled at Riahta, not caring that her fists had caught on fire.

"For Sonic the Hedgehog!" Amy cried.

"For Sonic!" Tails agreed.

"For Maurice!" Sally concluded.

Riahta had never felt so happy. So much vermin to step on! "Then let's play."

"Playtime just ended," Sally told him and charged.

Sally left a trail of dust as she sword thrusted at the mad echidna, which easily sidestepped her attack and brought his staff down to shatter every bone in the princess' body. Sally let go of her sword and danced it across her shoulders into her other hand to block Riahta's strike, her knees buckling at the blow but her body remained unmarked. Riahta kicked the princess in the gut, causing her to fly back from the impact. She stabbed her sword into the floor to keep from slamming into a hideous wall. Sally coughed involuntarily like a model-T.

An arrow bolt came at Riahta's head but the sage brought up a mass of dark threads before it could impact. "Didn't I say that wouldn't work?"

A hammer came flying through the haze left in the wake up of the explosive bolt and struck the mad echidna squarely on the forehead, throwing him off balance.

Using the distraction Bunnie made her melee attack, borrowing a fighting move from Knuckles and using her metal arm as a stand before smashing both of her feet into Riahta's body and sending him straight into the side of the Master Emerald. There was a crack as the tiniest fractures appeared on the gemstone's surface.

Before Bunnie could follow up, a black hand half the size of her appeared from the ground and punched her square in the chest, sending her backwards. She landed on her machine arm and thus didn't' shatter her bones, instead only left an impression against her chest. Dang! Why did it have to hurt to breath already?

Riahta smirked as he stood back up, slamming the head of his staff into the ground and releasing a shockwave which knocked the Freedom Fighters off their feet. His giant black hand flew out and took hold of Amy's hammer before she could recover it and floated it over to Riahta.

"Too bad _you_ can't just 'will' another one of your toys into existence isn't it?" Riahta taunted. The black hand crushed the hammer. Amy was scared a little more. "Now it'll do the same to you!"

A yellow tornado tore up at Riahta from below, sending him upwards, the gales cutting through skin and flesh, the black threads performing their duty as stitches. Riahta released a wave of force, shattering the winds and flinging away the familiars and bullets being fired at him.

The wizard's staff drove downwards, taking Riahta with him, hitting the ground and sending a black shockwave rolling out at the interlopers.

Julie slammed both her fists into the ground, creating another shockwave that crashed into Riahta's, but she wasn't prepared for the second one that followed right after, knocking almost half the heroes off their feet.

Riahta sneered at her. "Heh! Newbie!"

"Deflect this!" Julie didn't have time to think of creative lines in the fight of her life. Making hand signs and playing totally by ear Julie snarled, and the air next to Riahta went off in a ball of fire.

That was twice now Julie had missed the bastard. Riahta however did take a step back from this surprise move and Julie repeated the attack repeatedly, which again were all near misses. The waves of order surrounding the evil sage were confusing the engrained chaos senses Julie now had.

However these blasts distracted Riahta enough that he didn't see the sword slipping through the air at him until it was almost upon him. When would they learn? He caught it with the black hand, but was surprised when it was sliced in two by the blade, vaporizing. The surprise slowed down Riahta's reaction time sufficiently that it clipped off one his dreadlocks instead of missing him altogether or going through his head. The lock hit the ground and aged centuries in an instant.

Sally caught the sword on the other side, hadn't she thrown it though?

It was the last thing on Riahta's mind.

He looked at the cut off dreadlock. Riahta frowned, he had liked that dread. "Enough!" Gathering his strength, Riahta decided to show them how powerful he _really_ was.

Solid black threads, like twisting impossibly long sword blades on the ends of tentacles, struck out in every direction from Riahta's center. They came at all of them at once quicker than a cobra!

Sally's sword cut the ones headed for her heart and brain in a two-in-one stroke. The black threads kept moving however, twisting back around themselves to try and impale her again. Sally twisted the sword in a circular motion, cutting the four threads in two, the disconnected half vanishing but the rest kept coming! She dropped and rolled, the dark threads leaving bleeding gashes along her back and hitting the ground before being able to twist after her. The threads tried to move through the floor after her, but they had gone right through the rotted layer and impaled the true palace underneath, which stubbornly refused to let them progress or escape.

Amy fired a bolt at the black thread which shattered it, but the now jagged edges continued to progress at her to cut her half. Her heartbeat jumped to paces that should have killed her. Amy sidestepped and ducked the bizarrely slowing threads, but they still came fast enough to replace all the cuts that Sabre had healed from Amy's fight with Tempest. And the threads came back for another go, by luck Amy dove under the stagnant wake of the black thread, it cut into itself and twisted itself before it could be trapped in the ground and followed her. Then it lost a great deal of progress as the self-inflicted cut caught up with it, breaking apart the thread from where the crossing had occurred. But it still followed!

The moving edge of the black threads cut open both Bunnie's robotic and living arm. Bunnie had always learned how to block, not dodge. Now that came back to haunt her as the black threads ravaged her body, opening up the wounds Sabre had warned her to let heal. Now blood began to cover her fur and casing a second time, her evasions clumsy at best. She remembered enough to let her robotic limbs take the brunt of the attacks, but she was like a fly in a spider's web, each escape attempt only left her less room to maneuver as the thread's wake took up the space around her.

Tails' body twisted impossibly fast to avoid the threads as they came at him from every direction in the air, chaos power protected him utterly from mundane attacks but magical ones were always a gray area and he wasn't about to test it. His familiars smashed through the threads, breaking the black things into helpless pieces as the threads relentlessly kept coming, Tails flew at the ground, using his familiars as a lawn mower, and the threads all followed. The fox created a force hurricane, himself in the eye, actually pulling in and breaking apart the threads before they got close, but could do nothing to aid his teammates.

Hershey's shots did next to no good, menaces from beyond were always somehow able to counter bullets. She wasn't dumb enough to waste all her shots and throw her empty gun at the things as they came closer. Hershey threw an impact grenade instead, which shattered them. She felt satisfied and took aim at Riahta. The black threads came out an instant later from the haze left from her own weapon and Hershey screamed in agony as they impaled her.

The first thread went through her front hip and out the other side, the next one nicked the top of her shoulder, while the last one went through her shoulder, all of it, like a butcher knife. Hershey's scream penetrated the ears of everyone in the room. Her body was thrown off balance by the sudden change in weight, cutting the impaling black blade even deeper across her body. Her arm still holding the gun hit the ground, firing off its shots, startling Riahta bullets cutting through his leg as the dark threads quickly removed them and sealed the skin tight. Tears filled Hershey's eyes, her tail as stiff as a board, her knees bent back as she fell over, the black thread in her hip making a ghastly new exit wound and nearly ripping off her leg.

Hershey was just lucky the unnatural cold of the edges of black nothing also cauterized the stump where her arm had been. Not that it was really going to matter in a few minutes anyway since they were all going to die.

She heard Riahta's words. "I think I'll keep you and turn you into my personal concubine after this is all over," Riahta gloated. "The skunk died for me. Now you can live for me."

"Go to Hell," she whimpered.

He chuckled. "Stupid animal. That's where _you're_ going!"

Julie saw the swarm of threads headed at her. Riahta clearly wanted her cut into bloody chunks. If she didn't think of something in the next fifteen seconds then Knuckles would have died for nothing!

She was unarmed. She had nowhere to dodge to. And the one trick she had managed to figure out was proving useless. What did her old combat teacher always tell her?

'When one is outnumbered, outgunned, and outflanked, there is only one proper course of action: Attack.'

So almost suicidally, Julie chose to _charge_ the threads. A flame-covered fist shattered the tip of the one right in front of her and she jumped, the thread continuing to travel under her. She landed, on the thread, ON the thread! And not wasting time thinking she ran straight for their source, the thread actually cracking under her feet as the chaos in her disrupted it. The other threads all had to turn around to pursue her, and Riahta, his attention split as many ways as there were threads, only saw her coming at the last moment and willed another thread to impale her. Simple. And nothing is simple.

The newborn thread and Julie's burning fist collided, breaking apart, and cutting at Julie's spikes to the bone! And the fist struck Riahta in the side of the head, twisting it so far it broke!

The threads all instantly vanished from existence, their power source gone. Julie punched down to shatter Riahta's head, but his still animated body blocked it with his staff, cracking her knuckles.

The dark threads wrapped around Riahta's spinal cord, setting it back into place and preventing brain damage.

"YOU!" Riahta would not be best by this, this woman!

"ME!" Julie punched with her other fist, Riahta created a barrier that shattered but slowed the punch enough for him to grab it. Cleansing fire and consuming darkness mixed. This didn't stop her free fist from punching again of course and it did, hard, right on the muzzle, flattening it like a human's. "Ma fauce! Ma beutea-feul fauce!" Riahta said through a pulverized muzzle the black threads struggled to repair.

Riahta created another black thread to impale her but the room was so thick with chaos that it's displacement by the order the thread was composed of gave Julie enough warning to actually grab the front of it, cutting into her palms as it pushed her back. Julie let go before it could cut through her hands and fell backwards, letting it fly over her head. Tails' familiars in an instant were around Riahta's head, breaking up his concentration and dispelling the thread.

"I hate it when the magician does the same trick twice!" Tails quipped.

"I am no birthday trickster!" Riahta hissed, whacking away the familiars and creating a swift updraft which carried him up and over their heads, landing on the other side of the room and releasing a shockwave which rippled across the floor and knocked them over. "I am Riahta! Riahta! The Sage of the Dark Walkers! And your backwards world is about to be turned right-side up! Your hero is dead! Like all flesh! You can't win!"

"So many have said that," Sally spoke, kneeling next to Hershey. "You keep mistaking us for our mirror images!"

"We all don't give up till tha end!" Bunnie stood, cut up and bloody, but still standing.

"We support our teammates!" Hershey hissed as Sally helped her stand, the feline's body covered in sweat. Shaking, she took the still loaded gun from her severed hand into her left one.

"We don't betray others to save our own fur!" Tails declared, one of his familiars floating in front of each of his teammates except Julie, who wouldn't need it if Riahta tried to use the same move to clear the board.

"We aren't scared of bullies!" Amy declared, the side of her skirt cut open to show her stock of bolts. She placed one of her two last ones into her weapon.

"We don't ditch the memory of those departed!" Julie's hands and feet were little balls of fire.

"And I will never, ever, give up on Maurice!" Sally shifted into a sideways sword stance, her blade above her head.

Riahta nearly gagged. "Oh wow, like that didn't sound the least bit corny and contrived."

"Come on Riahta," Amy said darkly. "Good drama is hard to come by, dramatic tension even more so. So why spoil it? There are enough letdowns in this world!"

"Not for me!" Riahta grinned, he fired a black sphere of force at the heroes which Sally deflected back at the sage knocking him off his feet.

"The power of darkness consumes from the inside Riahta! If we don't kill you, then the power given to you by your masters will. You won't be here to welcome them," Sally declared.

"You're grasping at straws!" He launched energy bolts from his free hand.

They dodged, although Bunnie ended up taking another hit on her metal parts. "We're wasting time talking!" Hershey hissed, knowing she couldn't fire shots until Riahta was already distracted. Her lost arm just a distraction to Riahta's death.

"She's right," Tails said, seeing the pillar of light was now nine tenths the width of the Master Emerald. "We've got to …" Tails moaned, his aura flickering as his familiars vanished and his fur returned to normal.

Amy couldn't believe this! "Come on Tails! Don't burn out on us now!"

Their chances of winning just went through the floor. "I'm sorry… that's my limit…my body couldn't hold it in any longer…that's all I had." Tails collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

"We're not dead yet!" Sally said to what everyone was thinking.

Riahta laughed, energy crackling around his body and staff. "That's the problem with miracles and the divine. They always let you down when you fall."

...

"I've got you, I won't let you fall."

Her voice, it was loving and compassionate beyond mortal ability to express the emotions. It was so powerful and beautiful and tender and caring he almost sobbed with joy that something as worthless as he could be addressed by it, let alone in such a tone of concern! Sonic swore he had heard it somewhere before, some time very, very long ago, in the place of his memory just before he remembered anything.

Hold on, wasn't he dead? Then why was he able to hear anything? And why did he feel a pair of gentle soft arms around his curled helpless form? How could he be able to feel anything?

The voice laughed, causing pleasure to ripple through his spirit, and he wished for nothing more than to hear that magnificent laugh forever. Nothing else mattered. "There is more to the universe than chilidogs and princesses, my little Sonic Boom."

Sonic dared to hope. "Mommy?"

"Everyone's."

Sonic blinked his eyes open.

Was he standing in a doorway? Or was he waist-deep in a river crossing? Or was he sitting down in some kind of waiting room? The sense of where he was seemed to shift every moment, yet the purpose behind anything he saw remained exactly the same.

He was in between, with forces around him to monitor and maintain the in between. He figured he was supposed to be walking across the thin white line, but instead he was just standing on top of it.

But no matter how the reality changed around him, She remained a constant, always, from before and after.

Sonic didn't even for a moment entertain the thought that the indescribably beautiful hedgehog woman before him was Amy, because Amy was uglier than sin compared to her. Sally too, for that matter. Her shimmering eyes were a blue deeper than the sky and even his own quills; her fur was a light, almost white, pastel pink. Her beautifully long quills were in the traditional downward pattern. Her body had the figure of a mid-twenties lady who had just given birth…and looked _amazing_ in spite of it.

"Who are you?" –And what's your number, gorgeous?-

"Look into my eyes child, and you know exactly who I am." The knowledge poured into Sonic's meager brain.

Aurora, 'Echidna' goddess of life. Or, she was supposed to be echidna according to limited echidna beliefs.

"You're a hedgehog?"

"I am life. Yours, the echidnas, humans, flickies, dragons, even the life that was made, not born, it makes no difference."

"Oh." He blinked. "What's going on?"

"The Dark Walker's puppet tried to murder you when you woke up to your real self. Since the gate was not complete, he knew it would destroy you as it tried to take you between the different sides, a piece of clay pushed through a tapestry. I caught you before your spirit was broken apart."

If she was really a god, then she had known all, had seen all, and done nothing, until this moment. "Why? Why nothing before now?"

She did not answer the question directly. "There is no free will without consequences, and without free will, there is no meaning."

Sonic knew what she meant. A peaceful, predictable, meaningless life. The life of a Robian, a slave.

"There is something you must see." Aurora commanded.

...

Echidnaopolis, a gigantic black spot on Devil Island, it's dark tendrils spreading out like a spider web across the entire island and even down into the earth below and out the other side. There were no ruins upon Devil Island. The old had been swept away for the new. The only possible exception was the hidden city of Ecopolis, the base of operations of the White Legion that seemed to change locations every time the Guardian tried to burn it out.

While eco-extremists would have loved to hear it, the bloated size of the city and the devastation was not due in any shape or form to overpopulation. The truth was that the population had been slowly declining over the last century. Kids were expensive. Healthy living was a low priority. And those who tried to comically slander the system didn't live long. A strange paradox since this meant there were no political comics, while in nations with free press; the ruling body was defaced regularly. Thus those free nations had their governments mocked, while those who oppressed their people were not.

The island regularly raped the resources of other territories that it floated over, like a plague of locusts always on the move. However the island did have some greenery that stubbornly refused to die out, no matter how many times it was slashed, burned, and laced with salt! It was here the White Legion always met, hid, and planned.

In the gigantic monster that was Echidnaopolis however, the sky was always a hazy black. The robot servant factories and lavish living quarters of the elite twisted in among themselves like a hybrid plant. It was hard to believe anyone or anything could live in such a place. But the echidnas did. And had for centuries.

Ever since the wicked primal force known as Order had enslaved the echidna people until a brave and noble chief named Camcahcap had formed a revolt among Order's slaves and sought to steal his Emeralds, the source of the evil being's power. The rebellion was crushed in a day. But Lakit, Order's mistress and selfish daughter to Camcahcap, saw this as her chance to betray Order and take his power for herself. Thus using the Slave Emerald, the giant gem that Order's Emerald's fed their power into, she tried to take his throne. But Order fought back, and in the ensuing disruption both were trapped inside the Slave Emerald, where they remain to this day. But memory became history, history became legend, legend became myth, and myth became fantasy.

And with the death of the noble chief Camcahcap and the loss of his evil heir Lakit, there was no clear ruler for the throne, and in this contest, the most cruel and ruthless came atop the mass of bodies. So where before the echidna culture had been a peaceful one, it was now one of war and violence.

Since the Slave Emerald relied on the Order Emeralds for power (the exact opposite of the Master and Chaos Emeralds) the echidnas had to repeatedly search for them to recharge it, since they would then scatter each time, and each power-up lasted a short and shorter time (they had no way to know this was because Order was constantly skimming off the top to find a way to escape his prison.) the Guardian and his sub agents the EST were faced with a problem. They were able to keep the knowledge slow decline of the Slave Emerald's recharge cycle from the average stupid echidna, but the reality of the situation remained.

As they struggled and turned on each other for a solution, the last person they ever thought would be dumb enough to show his face on the island again appeared among them, and presented them with the ultimate promise of maintaining their power. (If the island ever hit the ground, soft landing or not they had racked up enough enemies not to last a day.)

Knuckles snarled. "Why should we give you access to the Slave Emerald, you senile old fart? We've been able to keep the power decrease from the mindless public so far! But if it drops much lower, then even in their empty heads something is going to click!"

"Because…my friends," Riahta grinned. "I can give you what you want, what you need. A new giant emerald, fully charged, with an energy level equal and beyond to those of the Slave Emerald at the beginning of it's use."

Notgnimer wasn't convinced. "Why should we even trust your delusional ranting?"

Riahta held every card. "Because my fellow echidnas…you have no choice. When the Slave Emerald dies…Devil Island will fall. And when it hits the oceans, among the rubble, your authority, your instrument of fear, and your _power_ will be allll gone!"

"I think he's just crazy," Su-Julie commented. Riahta glared death at her.

"He is crazy," Knuckles agreed, holding onto his wife's shoulder. "But the filth is right…and he knows it. Fine you prick…the Slave Emerald is yours to command…betray us and even your imaginary masters won't be able to protect you!"

"Oh I'm so scared," Riahta taunted, like he always did.

And so Riahta used the Slave Emerald's power, and sought out what he needed. He found it, those who he needed to be his weapons and his tools, and he felt what he needed to do drop them perfectly into his lap. It was so simple! With the slightest push all was set in motion!

And with the slightest push he was able to use the Slave Emerald's power to slip through the barrier. And with the slightest push, his Master's would have a new world to make their own, without having to take orders from any being. Beautiful!

And Sonic's vision sped away from the past, through the present, and into the future.

Sonic watched in dismay. A force of truest evil, marching on the land of the living, and the beings of unseen good, forced to march against them in turn. And while the elephants fought, the grass suffered. But worse yet was Sonic could feel that this future of the two clashing forces was nothing compared to the future if this darkness went unchecked!

Sonic saw countless Mobians, Overlanders, dragons, flickies, all suffering the same fate Sonic and his teammates had. And he saw countless having to take the risk of using the chaos force, many paying the final price for it, the rest marching against the Dark Walker and their superior Order's creations, the landscape and culture of Mobius ripped apart and torn asunder.

No!

...

In a backlash Sonic was again in Aurora's presence, in the spot in between life and death.

"What was that?" Sonic asked.

"Past, present, future. Someone has to understand the full scale of what has occurred, and what will happen if Riahta wins and allows his masters to enter your world. And yet, you still have a choice, enter death and be free from all worldly concerns, even get to spar with Knuckles again, or return to life, and aid your friends."

He gave her a look. "Whadda THINK I'm gonna say? Send me back!"

She nodded. "I knew that was going to be your answer, but I had to give you the choice. It would have been wrong not to, as my children you define yourselves by your choices."

"I have no idea what you just said, but I'm kinda in a rush to save the world so let's going!"

"Fast on your feet as always Sonic. I give you this advice, remember, sometimes it's better to take life slow."

Aurora kissed Sonic on the forehead.

In his mind's eye, Sonic saw the blue chaos emerald for a split second before it shattered.

Only a twentieth of the Master Emerald remained outside the pillar of light. The room was sizzling from the remains of Riahta's dark explosions. Putrid guts of monsters he had summoned up from the rot covered the floor. The place was thick with the smell of blood and something else.

And Riahta's body was practically a mass of dark threads, the darkness holding his relentlessly attacked together like a rag doll, looking almost like a darkness version of Dimitri. The Freedom Fighters themselves were less intact.

Amy and Hershey had used up their ammo. Hershey's claw marks and most of her claws were in the throat of a snake thing. Amy's quills were matted with blood. Bunnie's flesh and blood arm was bent the wrong way. Thick claw marks went across Tails' back. Julie had lost her covering in the fight and the only male echidna in the room was Riahta, which of course made it all the worse. Her hands were covered in burn marks up to her forearms and she was sucking wind surrounded by a mountain of dead abominations.

Sally's vision kept going in and out, but her stance was firm, she held the sword in both hands, for the first time actually feeling its weight. She was covered in the slime from the insides of Riahta's things from when she cut her way out of a monster's belly.

"Time to say goodnight," Riahta said in a singsong voice.

"Don't bet on it," Sally breathed.

Riahta scoffed. "You can barely stand."

Sally began to slowly step forward, making swift mincemeat out of anything Riahta called out of the rot to kill her. "All I have to do is get past you…then I'll use the sword's power to break the connection between the Master Emerald and the one in your world. If I dump in my soul to the mix, it should be just strong enough."

"Sally, no!" Bunnie moaned.

Riahta looked at her in utter confusion, "You'd never do that! Your toy would consume your spirit; you'd cease to exist! Deader than dead!"

"You still don't get us," Sally hissed at the foot of the mound of the Master Emerald.

Without warning, the dark fortress convulsed and shuddered, as if suffering a heart attack. A visible shock wave violently rippled out from the mound. Sally used her sword as a crutch to keep from falling over.

The pillar of light quivered. A shape began to form in the light. Riahta made a giant open-mouthed smile; at last his masters had come! He won, he won, HE WON! He turned to greet his lords to their new kingdom, the struggling bugs gone from his mind. They were meaningless, only he mattered!

Riahta's face went blank faster than an unplugged computer screen as a lone figure squeezed through the gate, exiting the pillar, which still had one fiftieth, fifty seconds, to go.

Hershey and Julie loved the look on Riahta's face.

Heh. Bunnie should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

Amy knew with the greatest joy she wasn't dreaming and felt tears in her eyes.

Tails let himself cry out in happiness like a little boy making a small dance.

All exhaustion was gone from her body. Sally's heart soared into heaven and beyond!

Eyes as red as wrath, fur as gold as the sunrise, and a burning golden aura as purifying as fire, his fur was now in that familiar starburst pattern Sally had come to know so well. It was impossible to spot individual quills and fur strands, his golden texture shined as one.

Only the most observant would note his feet were hovering a few inches off the ground.

There was only one person this figure could be, this legendary symbol of justice and heroism renowned the world over who ignited the fires of hope in all who longed for goodness and invoked terror in the hearts of the evil! He was the one, the only, the invincible…

"SUPER SONIC!" The ladies and kitsune called, their spirits lifted by the sight of their miraculous savior.

"No! Noooo! What are _you_ doing here?!" Riahta whined in dismay. "I killed you! You're dead!"

Super Sonic spoke rather causally for having just come back from the dead. "Nothin' much. Just save the world, kick your butt, and make out with Sal'!" Sal' blushed. "Aurora's promised to grant your soul amnesty from your masters hands if you surrender right now. Don't know why she would, but hey, whatever floats her boat."

Riahta was beside himself with his rage at this offense. "I won't lose to a meaningless little creature like you! Now stay dead!" The mother of all destruction beams was fired from Riahta's staff at the super hedgehog at point blank range, enough to vaporize even him! Sonic dodged it without a second thought, and karate chopped Riahta's staff right out of his hands. And BETWEEN dodging the blast knocking the staff out of his hands Super Sonic had time to make three funny faces at Riahta, Kiss Sally on the cheek, hug Tail s and make another funny face at Riahta while drawing a funny face on Riahta's staff!

"Bad choice oldie."

Without thinking Riahta willed it back into his hands and brought it up, this time to destroy the hedgehog for sure. Super Sonic took hold of the shimmering staff's head, covering it with both his hands, and flipped over Riahta, not letting go. Neither did Raitha, whose dislocated arms were fixed in a moment by his thread-infested body. The sage twisted his body around to face the hedgehog as Super Sonic began to grimly push the mad sage back ever closer, to the gate. A cobalt ramp suddenly pushed its way out of the rot, the Hidden Palace itself given new hope and strength by the arrival of Mobius' ultimate hero, giving Super Sonic a perfect path to send Riahta back to whence he came through a cheese grater. Desperately, Riahta dumped all his power into his staff, his body weakening in the process but he didn't care, he had to stop the hedgehog as he was pushed towards the open portal. And still he was losing ground.

No! He was needed on this side of the gate to keep it open! He couldn't lose! Not this close to having everything! Only twenty more seconds were needed!

"Time to give up moron you can't win!" Riahta made one last desperate bluff. It didn't work.

"This nightmare is over, your power is broken!" Riahta's staff shattered in Sonic's grip, the pieces dissolving into nothing, sending the sage stumbling backward. "With the slightest push, right Riahta? Super Soooonnic…WIND!" Sonic's powerful aura erupted in a tremendous blue explosive shockwave, ripping the handsome flesh from the wizard's bones and flinging Riahta back like a leaf against a tidal wave, right into the pillar of light, where, screaming in disbelief and denial, he dissolved from view in a heartbeat. The pillar instantly thinned from a column to a line less than a hair thin, until that too, blinked into nothing.

...

"They did it!" Locke cried before any of the other Guardians could. They could feel it, the infection on the Master Emerald was gone!

...

Darkness. Absolute. He could see nothing. Even his own body was hidden from view…and even though he could not see it, he had the odd feeling he had lost the youth he had just regained. His body felt cramped and old and weak again…more so than ever before. His heart palpitated, and he found himself having trouble breathing.

-Where am I?- Riahta said silently, there was no sound.

In the space between perceptions, they appeared. Large enough for Riahta to be just an insect. Three horrible masks in the form of a skeletal Pterodactyl, Tyrannosaurs, and Stegosaurus. They looked down upon Riahta, growing larger by the moment.

"M-Masters?" Riahta whimpered stupidly.

"YOU." The right mask shattered. "HAVE." The left one. "FAILED!" The center one shattered. And three terrible things looked upon him, and he fell into their depths, drowning, and began to scream as his frail, pathetic body disintegrated around him.

...

Super Sonic coolly turned around to face his friends. "Hey guys, don't applaud all at once now, but the blue wonder is back!" Sonic declared dramatically, as always.

When Aurora had kissed him, she hadn't only cleaned out Riahta's taint and ignited the chaos inside Sonic. She had also cleared away his guilt and regret; she knew Sonic was not himself when he agreed to Riahta's bargain, so she saw no reason why he should have to burden the guilt of Lightspeed's sins.

"Maurice!" Sally called out to him. She tossed the Sword of Acorns away, ran into her Sonic and embraced him, an embrace he returned easily. "I love you." She kissed him deeply.

Sonic pulled away and looked her in the face. "Love ya too Sal'. Hey, nice eyes."

She laughed. "Thanks. We're a matching set now!"

Amy fell to her knees and sat. "I think we win." She smiled.

"Tell that to them," Bunnie pointed out, referring to the Super Order Emeralds.

Julie sighed. "I know Knux would consider this a win. That would be just like him."

Tails didn't hear them; all he knew was that Sonic was back! He ran up and hugged him and his Aunt, no, his MOTHER, a family reunited at last.

Hershey had to spoil the moment. "Is he dead? That old man, for real?"

"Hershey…" Sonic saw her missing shoulder.

She insisted. "Is he?" Only then would she be able to push the loss aside.

Sonic sighed, looking at the hole where the pillar of light used to be. "I doubt his bosses are ever gonna let him die. They're gonna make him suffer till doomsday and beyond."

"Good," Hershey said. No one disagreed with her.

"Sonic, I love you," Sally repeated.

Super Sonic smirked. "Sal', ya just said that."

"And I'm going to keep saying it until you can never forget again and you hear it in your brightest dreams and your darkest nightmares!"

Sonic sweatdropped. "You took lessons from Amy while I was gone, didn't you?"

"Don't worry. Only a little."

"Hey!" Amy protested.

"Don't worry Amy," Tails said. "I wouldn't have you any other way."

"Thanks." Amy moved closer and kissed the fox. "Ever change your mind again and I'll have to change it back for you."

Tails grinned sheepishly. "And I'll thank you for it!"

Needle through the heart for Hershey and Julie. Bunnie was just swept away in the romance of the moment.

During all of this, the Master Emerald's turning had slowed, and for a brief moment it stopped, and now began to turn in the proper direction.

And began to turn faster, and faster, an inner glow becoming steadily brighter.

"Hey, is it supposed to do that?" Amy was the first to notice and point it out.

Now everyone took note. Sonic on reaction moved himself and Sally away from the Master Emerald. Sally took the opportunity to pick up her Sword.

Julie just stared at the Master Emerald, the glow reflecting in her eyes, and saw herself being reflected in the massive gem. Her face showed awe for a few moments before going into alarm.

She shouted at her teammates. "You, we, have to get out of here now! We have to clear the infected area!"

"Say what?" Bunnie asked, truly not feeling like running right now and dumping out what blood she had left.

"The Master Emerald is purging the leftovers of Riahta's black magic from the Emerald Chamber and from Hidden Palace itself! It's going to completely transmute the place! There's literally no telling what so much chaos force will do to ordinary living beings! It's an instinctual reaction! It's can't stop it!"

"And how could you possibly-" Amy started.

"The Master Emerald just told me so!" The Master Emerald grew bright and spun faster.

Julie felt strangely rejuvenated, but at the same time strangely sick to her stomach. She knew they were already on borrowed time.

Sonic interrupted. "You guys go, I need to take care of some business first."

"SONIC!" Sally couldn't believe this.

Super Sonic touched her cheek gently. "Sally, just trust me, this time I'll come back to you no strings attached."

This was too much. "…Don't die this time!" She refused to give him a 'last kiss' and raced away from the Master Emerald, taking up the damaged Hershey feline, the fight having rendered her right leg useless, in spite of her protests. Sally sure was stronger than she looked!

But Julie proved to be too as she picked up Bunnie Rabbot, metal parts and all.

"You need to go on a diet!" Julie hissed.

"Watch it hussy!"

"What did you call me?"

Sally snapped. "Not now!"

Tails airlifted Amy and the heroes ran, leaving Sonic behind. Sally took one last look as she exited with her friends.

Super Sonic calmly walked about the now shaking chamber, looking at each of the gem statues in turn.

"All right Sonic, you know you can do this. You've done the impossible before so why stop now?"

The inner crimson glow of the chamber died, it along with the rest of the rot transmuting back into the rock and sand that Riahta had forged the Vengeance out of from the ocean floor. The chaos from the Master Emerald now exploded outward with a vengeance all its own, diving not only into Riahta's rot, but also into the biggest source of order in the chamber left, Riahta's Super Order Emerald, making the gems shake violently.

"Here it comes!" Sonic said to himself. Super Sonic's own chaos aura began to mix with the Master Emerald's.

...

As the heroes ran through the black chambers, Bunnie looked down to see they were now running on sand. "Is this it?"

"This is just the forerunner!" Julie told her, not breaking stride. "The real wave isn't here yet! Keep running. Don't stop for anything!!"

The dark rot around them was slowly devolving back into the material Riahta had made it out of, as normally happened when chaos was applied to order.

"Keeping running straight!" Sally ordered, her mind still completely on Sonic.

Tails had to readjust his flight path to avoid a piece of black bone as it turned back into marine coral. It took him two seconds to realize his weight was off, he turned around knowing what had happened, Amy was on the floor, just now getting up, the black rot turning back into it' raw material around her.

Tails turned to rescue her, but before his eyes, the tunnel grew longer and longer between them, like space itself was warping to keep them apart. Tails didn't care, he had to try.

Amy turned her head back the way they had come and saw what Tails did, a wall of multicolored light coming straight at them.

...

There were a good number of ones here, some farther away from others, yet at the same time, separate.

Three of the new arrivals that knew each other looked at other. They had never been here before, well, maybe once, but still knew exactly where they were. That was when they heard Her voice. "It's all right. Welcome home."

...

Sally herself felt the wall of chaos crashing towards them. She also became aware that two of their group wasn't there anymore. Miles!

Sally turned her head and saw the chaos coming right on top of the two. The Sword of Acorns wasn't enough. That much chaos, at once, like a tidal wave, after the fight with Riahta, her body wouldn't be able to take it. But Miles and Amy would at least have enough time to get away.

The same moment Sally flicked the sword out of its sheath, she was left in the dust by a pink streak dragging along an orange blur.

...

Tails flew towards her to airlift her again before the chaos hit her.

Amy had time to get up, but saw the chaos coming closer from the growing size of her shadow. Tails was coming as fast he could, but in that time she would have been swallowed up by the chaos.

Amy began to run, and the chaos came closer. Tails continued to fly to her, and the chaos came closer, Amy knew she was going to die, and the chaos still came closer. Amy ordered her legs to run faster, and the chaos came closer, Tails still wouldn't make it in time, and the chaos came closer. Amy didn't want to spend her last moments crying, and the chaos came closer. Why was the chaos slowing down? Tails came at her much faster, but he slowed down to a snail's back when she got close. Without even thinking about it, she grabbed the fox's hand, just in reach, and continued to run, pulling him along, and Sally and the others for some odd reason chose to suddenly stand still.

...

Sally and the others didn't have time to be stunned as they ran for their lives, clearing the infected heart of the palace with a whole five seconds to spare. The carriers put down their charges and turned to see the aftermath.

Five seconds later, the wall of chaos filled the enter hallway up to where the black magic had infected the palace, stopping dead in its tracks as it did so. The colors swirled around each other until they became a solid white, and in a flash, they were gone. And so was the filth and grime Riahta's taint had left behind, a soft green light fading back to whence it came.

Sally looked around and spotted Amy leaning against a wall breathing deeply, still holding onto a flabbergasted Tails. Amy looked at them, a tired and confused look on her face. "Why did you all … suddenly slow down?"

"Amy…" Sally was astonished, along with the other Freedom Fighters. "You were like the wind."

Tails' face lit up for a brief second. "Amy, you broke through! You're a true hedgehog after all!" Sally couldn't fight off the sense of pride that pecked at her at Amy's feat.

Amy couldn't believe they'd play games at a time like this. "Don't patronize me…Sonic's still in there!"

"Sonic!" Sally shouted. "Sonic! Did anyone see? Did he make out in time?"

"He was super! He had to have made it!" Amy demanded.

"But… what if, something went wrong, what if, he tripped, what if the emeralds burned out before he got out, what if-"

"Come _on_, Sal." Sally stopped dead in her fears, her head slowly turning to the grand hallway. Even before the light faded, the outline she now saw stepped out, revealing a blue hedgehog with green eyes.

Sally's innocently stunned face gave way to an open-mouth smile and her eyes rivaled the stars. Sonic, back to normal, looked at her, playfully pleading, and shrugged. "Have a little faith?"

Amy and Tails jumped for joy.

"Maurice!" Sally yelled, tears in her eyes, running right into him, wrapping her arms around his neck, underneath his quills. The two lovers twisted around each other before Sally finally kissed his love squarely on the lips. The kiss might as well have lasted till the heavens fell. "Don't you dare think I'm ever going to leave you again! That's it Hedgehog! Finito! Kaput! You go anywhere; expect me to be right besides you!"

Sonic laughed. "I love ya too Sal, I love ya too." He snapped his fingers. "Oh! Before I forget! Be right back!" Sonic sped back the way he came.

"Sonic!" Sally called…then placed her face in one hand. "He'll never change… And I don't want him to."

Bunnie smiled. "Congratulations, Sally girl."

Sonic sped back, carrying someone. "Sorry I'm late, had to get'em off those stupid pillars first." He put at his feet an unconscious yellow female echidna! A flesh and blood one with yellow fur and spines. On her forehead was a tuff of violet fur. "And that's not all." In a sonic second the hedgehog left and returned with another echidna, this one purple with blue head fur that mixed with her spines in a plume. The next second delivered a third echidna with blue fur and turquoise head fur and spines in a ponytail. Next came a collection of teardrop-shaped beings the size of teddy bears. One black with red mark, a blue with yellow one, and a white with blue one. Finally, Sonic moaned as he speed-carried a green dragon child to their lot.

Julie-Su stared. "I don't…oh what's not to believe."

Sonic just had to give his own expo. "I stayed behind and was able to redirect the chaos enough to get them back to flesh and blood."

"Didn't you say that regular people couldn't live through that?" Hershey asked Julie.

"Hey!" Sonic continued. "While I was super I wasn't exactly regulare dudette!"

"He has a point," Julie said.

Sally put an arm around him. "Just like you… you always _have_ to save everyone you can. But couldn't you have changed them back totally? And why didn't you tell me?"

"Hey! It was a sonic rush job. And besides, it was more exciting with me not telling you."

"Uh-Huh," Sally said. She whacked him on the top of the head with the flat of her sword.

Sonic rubbed the sore spot. "Hey!"

Sally offered no defense. "Hey yourself."

Tails couldn't hold it in anymore and blurted it out to his hero a mile per minute. "Sonic! Sonic! Amy did it! She broke through! I slipped and dropped her, and the chaos was coming right at her, and wow! She ran! I mean, she _really_ ran! She ran like you can!"

Sonic was amazed. "Amy did it? No way!"

"I saw it too," Sally added to Tails' testimony.

"Will you guys stop it?" Amy retorted. "There's no way I broke through. A hedgehog faints after their first high speed run as their metabolism adjusts, and …. M-" Predictably, Amy fainted.

"You are not telling her it was all a dream Sonic!" Tails said, knowing his hero.

"I wasn't gonna." Sonic crossed his fingers.

"She'll know it was real," Sally said, knowing with certainty. After all, she knew Amy like she knew herself.

"Well," Sonic said profoundly. "Only one real thing left to do now…PAAARTYY!"

...

A few days later, Julie-Su stepped out of the shower. One major drawback to having fur, it took forever to wash and almost as long to dry. But no matter how many times she washed, it was still there, in fact it there even clearer now that she had scrubbed away the old fur, much to her frustration. She looked at herself in a hand mirror, she had shattered the large one in her bathroom after her first scrubbing two days before and she hadn't risked losing another one by getting it replaced yet. She could have snapped her fingers and it would have been done in an hour.

Knuckles' funeral was tomorrow morning, she wasn't thrilled about going even more so because everyone was expecting her to. Being Knuckles' lover she was expected to give an expansive speech about how great he was. She already knew she was going to enjoy disappointing them by keeping it short and sweet, like Knuckles would have wanted. He was never one for elongated rituals.

She put on a replacement of her old outfit, the only new bit being a completely military green top with a very precise cut to show her Guardian mark. Next to her dresser was also a black and blue campaign cloak, a parting gift from Dimitri.

Dimtri never was one for subtlety, even in death. She had gotten the message a couple hours after Riahta's death. She had been sure it was a joke or a trap. Turns out it wasn't even close…

…

Dimitri's voice came through louder and clearer than it had in years; he had been saving up for this. "I, Dimitri, grandson of Angel, Master of the Legion, of sound mind and body, hereby name my heir. My heir is… Julie-Su."

In Hidden Palace's monitor room Julie knew she didn't hear that right. "What?!"

In her private room Lien-Da knew _she_ couldn't have heard that right! "Huh?!"

"This day just keeps getting more and more interesting." Thunderhawk muttered from his bed, where he had spent the last several hours ravishing the echidnafied Patricia.

Dimitri continued on screen, on radio, and on text messengers, there was no escape. "It is my hope, that she can restore the Legion to its original, true purpose, rather than the perversion it has become. Second, Lien-Da, for actions contradictory to our goals, and having lost sight of those goals, is dismissed from her position. Maybe with power no longer blocking her vision she will get a better perspective of our people's needs."

Only Dimitri knew why he didn't demand Lien-Da be eliminated, he could have, these were his last words. It was the same reason he hadn't eliminated Julie long ago: Because she was family.

"What now madam Lien?" Xenin asked loyally.

Lien-Da's face held no expression, except that of a dark determination. "This isn't the end. I'm a survivor. If I have to claw my way up to the top again then so be it. I'm not that old yet!"

"I am certain Dimitri expects nothing less of you."

The old man had one last thing to say. "And now, I bid you, farewell. 'Destiny's Carving tools.'" At the word combination and his voiceprint, the computer surrounding the old man shut down, taking his life support with them. And with his life support gone Dimitri lay back and finally laid to rest. The noise of the flat line was deafening to even the most indifferent ears.

...

And so in the space of a day, Julie had become both Guardian of the Master Emerald and Master of the Legion. This had resulted in the most bizarre cease-fire in history. The Legionnaires had fallen in line faster than dominos, after all, they had sworn indifferent loyalty to the Legion Master, regardless of who that person might be (thank Lien-Da for that), and as luck would have it, that person was now Julie!

Needless to say Julie had instantly gone to the bathroom, thrown up, thrown up again, and had laid waste to a good deal of the rocks outside Hidden Palace.

…

Locke was mortified to hear of his son's death, and even more ashamed he hadn't felt it. He didn't consider having to alter the flow of molten magma at the time a good excuse.

When Sojourner, she was told, had ordered Locke to get back together with his wife to sire a new Guardian, Locke had marched out to where Julie was having her tantrum, and dragged her kicking and screaming to a meditation chamber where he kept her until she calmed down, and he told her that he intended to train her how to use what Knuckles had given her even if it killed him. Julie was used to grueling training in the Legion, but she learned quickly that chaos required less physical control, and more inner balance, something she found she was unsurprisingly lacking in.

Meanwhile Hawking had punched Sonjourner in the face for his suggestion. When Julie had come crawling out of the chamber, not thinking that spiritual awakening could be so exhausting, she really wasn't in the mood for more words from these old men who said they were related to Knuckles.

Hawking spoke calmly and articulately. "Julie-Su, I detest everything you and the Legion stand for, I believe Knuckles was a fool for what he did. I wish Locke would have accepted our decision for him to try to get back together with his woman to produce another heir, I wish you would have stayed a dragon so the echidna people would have rejected you automatically. And you are now a part of my family and the latest of the line of Guardians and have our full and complete support. May you protect the Master Emerald from selfish desires without fail and guard the Echidna people from all wicked intent." Hawking bowed ever so slightly. "Welcome to the Brotherhood, Guardian."

And that was one more surprise.

…

The EST officers had taken it even less majestically. In particular combined with Dimitri's broadcast and the leaking news of Knuckles' death.

An EST, half her face in bandages, snarled, "I can't believe we have to listen to a dirty cyborg witch."

"You will _not_ address the Guardian in such a manner!" Remington snapped.

"Sir, you detest her as much as me, I know you do."

"That, is a luxury my duty can no longer allow. And if our departed Guardian has chosen her as his successor as his last act, I shall honor his wishes."

Surprising everyone, Sonic volunteered to be the one to write Barbie Koala and her Downunda Freedom Fighters about Stu's death. Leaving out anything about Shine of course. There was enough misery in the world.

Athair had presented Knuckles' body to the Brotherhood for last rites. Even after death Knuckles managed to break tradition again. Normally a Guardian's farewell was held privately and in secret, mostly because by the time a Guardian died anyone they cared for outside of immediate family was already waiting for them. Here, he had left them behind, except one. At least Charmy was there to pester him in the after life.

Remington. Julie. Lara. Vector. Espio. Mighty. Sally. Sonic. Tails. So many people besides the meaningless 'regular showuppers' were going to be there.

'Charmy, now that was a last minute show-stopper.' A small swarm of Mobian bees had shown up yesterday, among them was a princess bee in a regal pink dress and a stinger-shaped necklace, rather like the one Charmy had always worn on his jacket.

"I am princess Saffron. We've come for the body of my fiancé, Prince Charmy."

The echidnas who had welcomed them all said at once. "PRINCE Charmy?!"

Turns out Charmy was the prince of Golden Hive Coloney, and had left his girlfriend crying at the alter. The kid had been running ever since Knuckles met him during the whole Red Metal Sonic mess.

What made the whole thing even crazier to Julie was how Sally looked, her face paled to a light shade of green at the explanation. Last time Julie checked Sally had only known of the bee in passing.

Reverting to her old habits, she had eavesdropped on the princess when Sally had been asked about it by Bunnie Rabbot.

"I won't run and hide from my responsibilities, but I won't sacrifice my relationship with Sonic or Miles either."

"You think you can do it?" The rabbot asked.

"I'm sure as chaos going to try!"

...

Then of course, among all of this, amidst the crowning and deaths of kings and commoners, was the fate of seven survivors.

Of course, no one ever recognized them as the Order Knight, what rational person would?

In spite of the utter violation of their bodies, there proved to be a much worse fate. None of them remembered who they were. The few memories they were able to dig up were clearly fictional. The three echidnas all claimed to be sisters, and the purple one swore she was a dancer. The dragon was very much the same. The only thing any of them were sure of was that they had been born this way.

The only saving grace was that through Sally's soul sensing they were even able to tell who the seven had each been, which was very much needed since DNA tests proved useless in that regard.

As for the three little colored rain-drops, Sally and the Guardians indeed identified them as Chao, the three sub-types of 'Hero' or Angel Chao, 'Dark' or Devil, and the unassumingly named Neutral or Normal Chao. Their memories were as hopeless as the others and their grammar skills were painful at best.

Until Sally and the Guardians found a way to unlock their real memories, Sally reluctantly agreed to take the three Chao to one of the small 'Chao Gardens' that dotted the Terrran territories.

As for the dragon, Sally decided she would hand her over to Knothole's resident older (though not adult) dragon Dulcy for safe care.

The dragon wanted to bring along the black Chao, but the Guardians warned how dangerous black Chao could be, and after a few crying fits, the dragon finally accepted she would just have to visit.

Thunderhawk, (of course) offered to take care of Patricia, the purple echidna, but this idea was very much rejected, until she seemed interested likewise. She was quick to go job hunting at a local theater, still convinced she was a dancer, and, to be frank, it was very, very hard to prove her wrong based on her performance.

The blue echidna, who still couldn't remember her name, demanded she be the one to take care of 'her Chao' the Neutral one, and if it was to go to this Garden, she demanded to be there as well. Sensing just whose souls were inside these two, and finding that the blue echidna had a surprising knowledge on how to take care of said Chao, the Guardians reluctantly agreed to let her keep him.

Then came the problem: the Chao themselves didn't like the idea of being split up. Which lead to a gridlock. Terrans made no distinction between echidnas and mobians, being exactly the same to them. And wars left deep wounds.

The Angel Chao meanwhile had taken a slight shine to Sonic as well, and Sonic was still considering taking the little guy in, until they could break the barrier that Tommy's memories were in.

It was suggested that the Chao just stay on the island, but the Guardians were worried about a Chao population explosion. Finally, in the first formal contact Angel Island had had with anyone in centuries, the blue echidna would be taken on as a workhand in one of the man made (though no less habitable) 'gardens.'

Of course, no one knew what the sudden presence of Chao, and the equally sudden lack of Chao, would awaken inside the Master Emerald, but that's a story for another day.

Thankfully the sisters proved less ironclad about staying together, they could contact each other any time they wanted anyway over the green videophone.

That left just one, the yellow echidna. Until Sally was able to recover Stu's memories, it was agreed she'd be a ward of the Freedom Fighters. Though the echidna did have a 'yes madam' attitude around Hershey for some reason.

There were a couple questions of if it might have been more kind to just have the seven not remember, or at least until they could uncover chaos magic with enough force to change them into their original forms, which wouldn't be easy. They had been changed using Order force, not Chaos, which made things only more explosive, mixing order and chaos was dangerous. But one step at a time and all that.

"Those other three. If we hadn't kill'em…" Bunnie thought to herself, thinking of Lex, Porker, and Valdez.

"Then you'd be dead instead and some of your friends too," Julie had interrupted, backed up by Hershey. "Do creation a favor and don't dwell on it."

...

Julie sighed miserably. -I never could take my own advice.-

Julie looked down at her crest, there was no escaping it. This was her fate. She was saddled with Guardian, and saddled with Legion Master. She was effectively leader of two sides in a fanatical struggle.

And now neither side dared attack the other, in fear of upsetting the person who was considered the embodiment of their ideals! Except now she was the embodiment of two conflicting ideals. The media was having a field day. It was a wonder they weren't banging down her door, oh yeah, that was what the EST outside her apartment right now was for.

They and the Legion elite guard had actually started a fist-fight over who got to guard the front door to her condo building. After she said the EST could do the job, she had to stop the Legionnaires from committing Seppuku by giving them the job of guarding her roof.

Her word to these people was law, but what could her word be? She had been knocked from the bottom of the ladder to the top! There were of course plenty of echidnas who couldn't stand what happened, both sides considered her a pawn of the other, but thankfully those who believed in the ideals of both offices outnumbered those that didn't.

As it turned out, not many had any real love of Lien-Da as their leader, they were _scared _of Lien. (Who wouldn't be?) Those who stayed with her were those had come to suffer abused spouse syndrome and little more.

Of course, everyone wanted to know what new policies she would implement with her new station, and if she intended to declare herself queen of the island (her newborn critics.). The one thing she had managed to make stick was that until further notice there would be no violence of any kind between the two sides of the echidna race.

She checked her clock, just about time. There was a knock at her door. Taking a weapon in one hand and channeling chaos with the other, she looked through the peephole.

Athair. "Does the young Guardian need an escort?"

"Why don't you just teleport in?" Julie asked, only slightly annoyed.

Athair looked only slightly insulted. "Madam. I do have some manners!"

"Teleport in so I don't need to open the door."

"As you wish." Athair teleported in right behind the new Guardian. "I'm doing this only because I like you young Guardian."

"I know," Julie sighed.

"You know, you should make a lot more public appearances, you need to win over the people's trust after all."

"I'll make plenty after today, okay? Let's just go."

Athair tutted. "You're acting like a hermit and yet you still want to go out for a social occasion, how odd."

"I'm screwed over, but I'm not dead!"

"Then again, you hated social occasions before, perhaps you _are_ coming out of your shell."

She groaned. "Shut up magic man and make with the hocus pocus!"

Athair whacked her on the head. "If you wish something, nine out of ten times you should ask politely for it. But I'll cut you some slack this time. Here we go."

"Makes me wonder why you couldn't just teleport Knuckles to Angel Island from Knothole."

"He'd have left all his teammates behind or would have been too focused on hating me for dumping them on him. So here we go." The two teleported out of the apartment and appeared right in the middle of the loudest, most chaotic thrill mix ever to plague the inside of a building of Angel Island. Sonic had proven himself a master of the art.

Given the havoc around them, it should have been no surprise that not many noticed them, of course, it had to be one of the people Julie didn't want noticing her that did!

"Pity you lost the scales, I bet you were pretty hot as a dragon."

How she hated the sound of his voice! "Shut up Vector."

"Hey! Can't a guy give a compliment to a lady?"

"He can, but that was no compliment!"

"It is for a 'croc."

"I'm not a croc!"

Vector put an arm around her shoulder. "It's like my pops said before he tried to eat me, my mom, and my brothers and sisters. 'Son, there's a bit of reptile in everybody, so don't feel ashamed for feeling the hots for those outside your own species, and dash this salt on your head.' Still don't get the last part."

Julie sweatdropped.

This was where Charmy would jump in with a clever quip, except Charmy was dead.

"So where's the rest of your crew?" Julie said as politely as she could to the living handbag.

"Mighty's over there picking up girls," Vector pointed. And indeed, several ladies of several species were standing above the crowd, standing by one foot on top of Mighty's palm. Just for the sake of his own wounded ego Mighty was also using his other hand to walk on two fingers across the dance floor.

"And I don't know where Espio is," Vector admitted, scratching his head. Espio at that moment was break dancing on the ceiling, having thanked the princess for her good deed to Espio's family. A rather cold way to put it, but he was a ninja. And when Sally asked if this meant they had to fight now for Espio to regain his honor or something, Espio told her that since Valdez's skills were not his own, and he was not a ninja to begin with, any such code did not apply to the situation.

"And what are you doing?" Julie asked. She and Vector still adjusting to the fact that now Vector worked for her!

"Looking for new chums! I'm thinking about opening a detective agency."

She stared at him. "…Where did you get an idea like that?"

"Espio wouldn't give me back my record collection until I read the entire collected adventures of Sherlock Homes."

She smirked. "And your brain didn't blow up, congratulations Vector."

"You!"

"That's 'Boss You', to you," Julie said, instantly shutting him up as his brain tried to process this new fact again. She walked off before he could recover. Athair followed at a safe distance, slipping between people as he went.

That was when Julie found the newly born again wallflower.

Julie and Hershey had reluctantly admitted they were two of a kind. Both had their loved one stolen from them before their time, and had taken to talking about their dead boy friends and comparing notes, and saying how no one in the world truly understood them.

Julie's newfound power did have some advantages: she had been able to have an artificial arm already built for Hershey. Wasn't done yet though. And Hershey wondered if she wanted it, not because of any fears of cybernetics, but wondered if she should keep it like any scar. And maybe as a reminder, of what, she wasn't sure.

"Do you ever get used to it?" Hershey asked, thinking of having a metal arm.

"For me it was just another part of puberty. I don't draw a distinction between the parts of me that are technological and biological."

"… Want a bodyguard? I _am_ a mercenary." If she said yes, than maybe she would get that arm.

She shrugged. "I'm likely going to need several. What's your price?"

Hershey didn't hesitate. "Room, board, and respect as a person."

"I don't know if the Legion would accept a non-member as part of my protection."

"Where do I sign up?"

Julie rolled her eyes. "You DON'T want to."

"Your ancestor wanted you to bring your group back on track didn't he? I wouldn't mind joining if you can change it."

"Don't know if I can."

Hershey quoted from the last person she ever dreamed she would. "What's Sonic always saying? 'Don't know unless you try?'"

She sighed. "…Point."

"However Guardian, you will have at least one more non-Legion bodyguard as it is."

"Remington." Julie was still struck by his sudden change in attitude towards her. He wasn't acting like a mother hen, but he was so formal around her. "I don't want someone whose helping me because they feel they have to."

"Is that different from you madam Guardian? You could just walk away. Why don't you?"

"Because I won't betray Knuckles."

Remington nodded. "And I will not either, so we are even."

"I think I should try a walkabout in the jungle for a few weeks. See what Knuckles found so great about it at last." A Walkabout. Survival test. Another passage into adulthood, again.

He frowned. "So unprepared?"

"I'm a tough cookie; besides…all the other Guardians did it… and if I'm stuck with this job, I'm not going to have people say I don't have the credentials."

"As you wish Guardian, but who will have control of the…of the Dark …of the Legion while you are gone?"

She paused. "… I don't know… this is all so complicated."

Remington smirked. "Welcome to the world."

"Been here for quite a while."

"And yet there's always something more."

"Got me there. I'm going to see if any members of my family on my mom's side survived Lien-Da's culling. I know I can trust them to hold house for me for a fortnight." 'I wonder…could that creepy ghoul Spectre give me some tips? There's more to him than meets the eye.'

"How's the witch doing?"

"Working her hardest to keep things running smoothly and trying her best not to make enemies and not to incite my wrath for what she's already done. I could say the word and she'd be dead."

"And yet you don't."

Julie shrugged. "I'm not her… I have decided one thing."

"Yes?" Remington was eager to hear this.

"As Guardian, one of the first things I'm going to do is end our isolation. We've been alone for too long. We've been hiding for too long. … It's time we started making friends."

"…I will follow you down this path no matter where it leads Guardian."

She smirked. "If I'm doing something stupid, I want you to tell me."

Remington winced. "Eh… can I begin that promise tomorrow my Guardian?"

She rolled her eyes. "…As you wish, your opinion, is noted."

Time slowed down, literally. Julie looked at Athair, rather annoyed. "Yes?"

"By the way, I have a present from Knuckles."

"Don't joke."

"No joke."

The old man tossed a plastic container to the Guardian.

"What is this?" Julie asked, looking at the milky white liquid inside the small tube.

"Oh, just seeds of the future, if you chose to take them." Athair shrugged.

Julie started. "Knuckles'… Knuckles'."

Athair shrugged and continued. "It's not my business of course what you chose to do with it now. Consider this a blessing and a curse from your new Great Grandpa."

Julie looked at it. Maybe she should just dump it? Be free of the ties of the past and just move on? She looked at the crest on her chest, oh yea, like that was going to happen. "I won't fear the future." Julie said with finality and placed it in her pocket. "And I'm not scared to embrace it."

"Good girl." Time started up again. And so Julie-Su, Athair knew, the nineteenth guardian, began her first step to bringing about the peaceful unification that was Dimitri's dying wish. "By the way, there's someone over there who'd like to speak with you, and I think you want to speak with her."

Julie gasped when she saw who it was. Lara-Le, why was she here? Lara's eyes were still red from all the crying she had done in the last few days. "What is she doing here?"

Athair chuckled. "Because you couldn't bear to see her if you had a chance to think about it, so I invited her."

"Meddling jerk," she grumbled.

He nodded enthusiastically. "It's what I do."

Julie, with a heavy heart walked over to the mother of her dead love.

Athair didn't follow.

"Miss Feline."

Hershey glared. "I have nothing to say to you."

Athair kept himself steady. "Even if it's from your Geoffrey?"

"I won't believe a word you have to say."

"He said he wants you to be happy, and that he loved you too, he just couldn't let go of the past. He doesn't want you to make the same mistake."

She glared some more. "How should I know this is Geoffrey and not you?"

"Because you're not a part of any of my prophecies anymore. And besides…" Athair's voice changed tone. "It is my duty."

Hershey started, and looked into Athair's eyes. "What?"

"I think he also said something along the lines of, 'I'll be there for you my love, but don't let that stop you from trying to find love while you're in this world. I will be waiting in Aurora's womb when you return to her.' That is of course if you believe a senile old man like me."

Hershey stammered. "I…I think I will…today…just today."

"I'll tell him you love him too after all." He nodded. He handed Hershey a similar container to the one he had given Julie.

"What is this?"

"Remember that mosaic you saw in Hidden Palace, and what I told you before about you and Geoffery?"

"…yes."

"Believe you can CHANGE destiny!! And with that Goodbye Miss Feline."

"Where are you going?" she asked. "Not staying for your own great grandson's funeral?"

"No need to," Athair said with a shrug. "Death ceased to mean anything to me a long time ago. This funeral is nothing but a formality for the living to go through. I have business elsewhere. Besides," he said with a grin. "We're giving him a welcoming party on the other side, and I for one don't intend to miss it! Hoho, if my grandson thought he could escape me by dying he's sorely mistaken!" With a rather ridiculous laugh, he vanished.

'Okay… if I have to believe in destiny, then I'll also believe I can change it!'

…

Julie knew when Lara-Le asked Julie if the lass would like to move in with Lara that until Julie got over her own grieving, Lara was begging Julie to fill in the elder woman's rooms until she could to terms with the fact her baby was dead.

However, there was something to be said first.

"Miss Le," Julie asked. "I need to know. Knuckles died to save me. He might be alive if I had never been born. He gave up his life to rescue me… so I need to know…do you hate me?"

Lara hugged her. "I could never hate you. You're all that I have left. I love you."

Julie wondered for a moment if her mother would let another woman replace Julie's parent. She realized it was her big sister talking and pushed the doubt aside. "Love you too… mom."

On the other side of the massive auditorium Julie had strong-armed for the event, Sally and Bunnie sat swinging their legs as they watched Sonic take center stage, outdoing everything Mighty did by yards which inspired Mighty to only try harder. 'Such a ham of a hedgehog,' and Sally hated to admit it, but she loved him for it.

Sally broke the silence. "I see you're back to covering yourself."

"I said I wasn't an terran, I didn't say I wasn't a lady. Ya know what, girlfriend?"

"What?"

"Ah think ah'll grow mah hair longer."

"Eh?"

"With the fightin' over, I finally can, ya might consider tha same thang."

Sally frowned. "Hmm. No, I think I'll keep it short. I've gotten used to it." Sally considered her hair having gone through too many changes as it was over the years. Those times Sally dyed her hair black and her fur pink, then her hair blond and her fur red. Oy! Sonic still didn't quit making fun of her for that!

"Speaking of which, Ah suppose Ah should tell someone this. When Ah saw those full flesh me's in Riahta's place…they felt as unnatural and alien to me as those full metal ones did back in the palace's sparring room." Bunnie looked at her machine arm. "This wasn't me Sally girl. Not at first. And when it first happened Ah'd have changed back in a heartbeat. Maybe ah still would. But now, Ah dream of myself like this, and ah see myself in mah mind's eye like dis. There was actually a guy in Knothole who did a sketch of me completely flesh and blood. And ah looked at it, and he was a pro at what he did but…but…it just didn't look right. Naw, it just didn't _feel_ right. I used ta look into tha mirror and flinch Sal, now ah never do."

"Bunnie…"

"I'm no Robian, and ah wouldn't wanna be one for the world with or without mah soul intact. But now, after what Ah saw, Ah know I'm no Mobian either, and I'm not sure I'd want to be one."

Sally smirked. "So you're a hybrid, welcome to the club …sister."

"Thanks… I knew ah could say to ya Sally-Girl. Also… when we get back home…now that the war is over and Ah don't need to worry quite as much about dying… remember that cowardly coyote who kept trying to 'swoon' you and keep challenging Sonic to fights to the death?"

Sally nodded. "Antoine D'Coolette."

Bunny smiled. "Ah think I'm gonna ask him out when we get back."

Sally started. "What? Why him?"

"Ah think he's cute. Ah think it's nice how he keeps trying even though he's always scared stiff. And dat indecipherable French speech of his is all so romantic!"

Sally stared blankly at her. "…Good luck."

Bunnie frowned. "Ah won't _need_ luck sistah!"

"If you say so… sister."

Sally took out the sword of Acorns out for a moment and reflected. -One path is duty. The other is love. Which path will you take?- the blade asked.

'The third path. The one unseen, but I know it's there. And I will walk it with my head held high. '

-Grace be upon you.-

Sally put it back.

"What was that about?"

"Hmm? Oh, Just finding some resolve for what's ahead."

"Scared?"

"Of course. I'm just making sure I stay in change."

"Yo! Sal'!" For having been turned into a monster, and having been used as a tool for the end of the world and the murder of innocents, Sonic was taking it all in great stride, even more so for Tails. Amazing what a kiss from the Mother of all living things can do for one's self esteem. "So how was I? Way past cool, or just too cool?"

Sally smirked. "I wasn't watching."

Sonic deflated slightly. "Aw man, that was a one time performance too!"

"I'm so sorry I missed it then," She teased.

He sulked. "You're cruel Sal, really you are. It's nice to go around this place without everyone thinking I'm public enemy number one, but I can't wait to get home. It'll be nice just to goof around without worrying about Ro'butt'nik causin' trouble."

"Sounds like what you normally do." Sally face switched to serious. "Sonic… you and Tails…in fact…all of us here… I think we should see some of the world before going back home?"

He stared blankly at her. "… How come?"

"Come on! I know you've always wanted to travel! You hate sitting still and seeing the same old place day in and day out! It'll be fun! Why don't we all go to that city where we're taking the Chao and Puck? I think it's called Station Square. I'll admit, it's populated mostly by humans, but I hear that races from all around come just to visit the beaches!"

Sonic wasn't that dense. "Ya don't want us coming back ta Knothole cause yer scared I'll get hurt by our own buddies for what Lightspeed did."

Sally leaned close, "…I love you too much for that to happen…and I'm scared if you come back too soon .. someone will do something stupid."

He looked at her for a moment. "…K'. I'll bite."

Sally expected more of a fight. "You will?"

"Hey! You make it sound interesting, and if you're there, it will be a vacation."

"And I'll still have that bottle of champagne under my floor boards at home for when we get back!"

He shook his head quickly. "Don't tell me anymore details … life's no fun without surprises."

Sonic spied Tails and Amy. "Speaking of which…"

"Hey Tails." Amy turned her head right at her boyfriend.

"Yes Amy?"

Amy jumped right in front of him fists pumping, "Let's go to Mercia!"

He blinked in surprise. "What? Why?"

"Because I have family there, yet I've never even met them! It's about time I did. After all, I don't know when I _won't_ be able to."

"…I was kinda hoping that we could go where Sonic and Sally are going…"

She shrugged. "Maybe we can do both… we'll have the Tornado right?"

Tails looked at her in surprise. "Amy…that's the first time you ever called it by name."

"So? Maybe… I want to finally get a hint of what's it like to fly …" She leaned ever so closely, "like you."

He blushed. "Thanks … I think I can show you."

"Tails, why so melancholy?"

"I was... I don't know, after all this, hoping for more of a conclusion I guess."

She rolled her eyes. "And people say I'm dense."

"Huh?"

--

"My Time has begun!" Declare a short nearly bald human with a really long nose atop the floating Egg Carrier.

"Hail-Snivley!" Saluted the E-series robots below him.

--

"Our time to become our _own_ people slaves to no one is here!" Said one lone robian to his fellows free of their slave programming.

--

"Our time for awakening, and redemption has begun." The spirit of the echinda princess Tikal sighed within the master emerald.

"My time for freedom is finally coming!" Said the awakening Chaos next to her.

--

"The time has come for me to find out exactly who I am." Elise said packing his bag, not sure where he was goingbut would know when he got there.

--

"Time for my dream to come true!" Said young a blond flying squirrel and avid Mighty fan boy Ray, today he finally had the courage to ask if he could join the Chaotix.

--

"The time has come to finally find you my cousin." Said a turquoise hedgehog with familiar looking green eyes armed with a long bow that had proven it's worth against machines time and again.

--

"I'm still going for my happy ever after… but it wouldn't be very happy if that were the end of it all. I plan to do a lot during that happily ever after, even if no one bothers to write a book about it, I'll enjoy it and that's the point. This isn't the end, it's the real beginning!"

"Yeah...it is." Without a second thought, he kissed her and with less than a word to each other after, they danced.

~Fin

One of the major edits I rejected here was Riahta successfully shifting the majority of the blame off himself, which I felt really didn't seem right for his character. Also I cut out some of the gore in the Emerald Chamber since it didn't fit the style shown in the Vengence seen thus far. I also went back while going over this and expanding some parts since Ri2 felt the ending lacked something but I felt his epilogue was just too…. Well, didn't feel right. Also I lost my original draft which had Riahta considerably less overpowered for the final battler rather than being a boring invincible villain he is here. That was a serious flaw of Ri2's work of the time of simply making his antagionists so overpowered that when it came time for them to power up the readers just couldn't relate since he was unbeatable before anyway such as here where before Riahta was himself in a race against time and was failable, Ri2's edits undid a good deal of this. I deeply apologize for Riahta oversized strength during the fight with the Freedom Fighters rather than being a struggle that left you WONDERING which side was going to win as it was in the original draft and tried his hardest to remove Riahta's dark thread healing which was a motif of the character. I hope you managed to enjoy the story anyway in spite of this. Please tell me what you thought of the story if you would be so kind.

The Gary-Stu Deoxys was my doubts, Aeon was my desire to move foreword. If you're reading this, it means Aeon has emerged the victor. The path to the future has finally opened, and I am no longer a prisoner to the present. Thank you all of you for your support to the very end.

P.S. Julie Stubbs is the coolest woman on Earth and I hope she's very happy with her husband.


End file.
